Man arrested over shooting of Melbourne underworld figure Gavin Preston
A 22-year-old Sydney man has been charged with murder over the daylight execution of underworld figure Gavin “Capable” Preston at a busy Melbourne cafe.
Police & Courts
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Homicide detectives have made a major breakthrough in the Gavin Preston murder investigation, charging a Sydney man with his murder.
Heavily armed police arrested the man in the southwestern suburb of Bradbury in a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday.
Jaeden Tito, 22, was arrested without incident.
Mr Tito is a former promising rugby league player who was, in his teenage, funnelled towards an NRL career.
He is likely to be extradited to Victoria on Thursday morning after facing Campbelltown Local Court in on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Tito is set to face additional charges, including assault, in Victoria.
He will be questioned on what he knows about the shooting death of the veteran gangland figure known as “Capable”.
Simultaneous 6am warrants were also carried out at Campbelltown and Yagoona, also in Sydney’s southwest.
Police footage shows two men walking out of a home in Bradbury as armed police surround the property.
Mr Tito can be seen walking out of the house with his hands in the air.
Senior police said in the aftermath of Wednesday’s arrest that the investigation is far from over.
Preston, 50, died as up to 10 shots were pumped into him at the Sweet Lulu’s Cafe in Keilor at 10.20am on September 9.
Detective Superintendent Janet Stevenson from Victoria Police’s Crime Command said she could not shed light on Mr Tito’s alleged role in the shooting, but said he was “clearly key” to the police inquiries.
He was not previously known to police.
Detectives are still hunting several other people and the motive for the shooting remains unclear.
“We will keep going on this investigation because it’s not finished we are appalled at this type of offending,” Ms Stevenson said.
“It seriously threatened innocent people.
“The fear that this type of offending generates along with the high risk to innocent people have been killed or seriously injured or even traumatised, it’s unacceptable and it deeply concerns us.
“We will continue to utilise all our resources to find those responsible at any level and hold them to account.”
Ms Stevenson said the shooting of Preston was not believed to be linked to the string of tobacco shop fires across Melbourne this year.
“This (Peston execution) is a very public demonstration of violence and it has deeply impacted all those people involved,” said.
“We’ve already been in touch with the victim’s family to let them know of this important development.
“We will continue to utilise all our resources to find those responsible at any level and hold them to account.”
A hit team pounced as he sat with Abbas Junior Maghnie at a table in an outdoor area of the Old Calder Highway business.
Maghnie scrambled for his life but was wounded and is believed to be still in hospital.
The ambush was over within seconds, a number of shots missing and hitting a wall at the back of the venue.
A major hitch later emerged when police revealed attempts to incinerate their Audi, probably to destroy forensic evidence, had failed.
Preston had been a headache for some major Melbourne crime figures in the months after being released from prison earlier this year for the fatal shooting of drug dealer Adam Khoury at North Melbourne in 2012.
He had been involved in significant standover activity and had allegedly assaulted at least one well-connected player in the period before being killed at Keilor.
The Preston matter is one of three gangland murders from the past three months which are the subject of homicide squad inquiries.
First to go was underworld identity Mohammed “Afghan Ali” Keshtiar, who was gunned down in a South Yarra street in early August.
Comanchero bikie associate Robert Issa, 27, was shot dead in a Craigieburn shopping centre car park 18 days ago.
The three killings are not believed to be connected.
Preston, who had been living at Taylors Hill, was a notorious triggerman and one of Melbourne’s most feared and unpredictable underworld identities for decades.
He was for a period connected with the late Middle-eastern organised crime figure Nabil Maghnie, father of Abbas Junior.
Maghnie was shot dead in a confrontation at Epping in 2020.
The pair were suspected of an attempted hit on former Bandido bikie gang enforcer Toby Mitchell and were later intercepted as they drove through the city, allegedly en route to murder Mick Gatto.
Detective Supt Janet Stevenson of Victoria Police crime command said the Preston case had been a challenging investigation.
“This is a significant arrest and a significant step forward, however this investigation remains live and is far from over,” Supt Stevenson said.
“Since this shooting occurred a little over six weeks ago, there has been a significant effort from Victoria Police that has been led by the homicide squad.
“We have worked closely with the members from the Keilor area where the shooting took place and drawn on specialist units from across Crime Command. We have received tremendous support from the community during the course of this investigation.”
Supt Stevenson said inquiries had led investigators to New South Wales where that state’s police had provided substantial assistance.
She said the Preston murder was an act of “extreme violence” from people with no regard for community safety.
“The fear that this type of offending generates along with the high risk of innocent parties being killed, seriously injured or traumatised is unacceptable and deeply concerns us. We will continue to utilise all our resources to find those responsible at any level and hold them to account,” Supt Stevenson said.
“Today’s arrest also sends a message back from Victoria Police to those involved and I hope that message is clear – we will keep going until we find those responsible for bringing this violence to our community.”
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