Abbas “AJ” Maghnie still in hospital four weeks after being wounded in Gavin Preston ambush

Abbas Maghnie, shot when his friend Gavin “Capable” Preston was executed in a shocking daylight ambush, is understood to remain in hospital with severe injuries.

Gangland shooting victim Abbas Maghnie is believed to be still in hospital, four weeks after the ambush in which his mate Gavin Preston died.

The Herald Sun has been told the wounds to Maghnie – also known as “AJ” – are so severe he is still being treated.

The 26-year-old was shot in the upper-body as the hit team pounced on September 9 at the Sweet Lulu Cafe on the Old Calder Highway at Keilor.

Maghnie – who desperately scrambled away as he saw the shooters – was taken from the scene in a critical condition and underwent emergency surgery.

CCTV footage captured an injured Maghnie fleeing after Preston was killed.

The brazen daylight assassination of Preston was caught on CCTV.

It was the second time he has survived being shot.

In January, 2020, he was wounded as his father Nabil was shot dead and another man injured in an incident at Epping, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Preston died where he fell after the Keilor attack.

He has since been buried at the Altona Memorial Park cemetery in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

It has also emerged that Preston’s death came one day after that of his mother Lenore, a well-known and respected community figure.

No arrests have been made yet over the murder of her son.