Who was the Bankstown shooting victim?

THE shocking shopping centre shooting was “not random”, police have said, with the victim linked to an earlier murder.

Walid “Wally” Ahmad died after a shooting in Bankstown today.

POLICE have confirmed the fatal shooting at a shopping centre in Sydney was a targeted attack as details over the victim’s deep ties to Sydney’s middle eastern underworld criminal community are unearthed.

Walid “Wally” Ahmad, 40, a convicted killer and known “standover man” is believed to be connected to a fatal shooting at smash repair business, A Team Smash Repair, where one man, Safwan Charbaji, was fatally shot in the chest.

Another man, Abdullah El Masri, was left in an induced coma after being shot in the face.

“It’s clearly targeted, this is not a random shooting,” Detective Superintendent David Eardley said of today’s shooting.

“It’s clearly targeted towards the man who died of a gunshot wound. Certainly there’s been a recent shooting in Condell Park. Those detectives will be reviewing this today.

“Obviously that will be the subject of an investigation to identify any linkages to the deceased man.”

Walid “Wally” Ahmad.

Ahmad was believed to have been on the run after the shooting earlier this month.

The shooting happened on the afternoon of April 9 in Condell Park, a suburb of Bankstown.

Witnesses reported hearing two groups of men argue for close to 45-minutes before a number of shots were fired from opposite sides of the street.

According to the Daily Telegraph, detectives were “hunting up to three gunmen and believe at least two guns were fired during the firefight”.

At the time, authorities said the men are known to police.

Safwan Charbaji was murdered earlier this month. Picture: Supplied

“We believe that the people did know each other,” a police spokesman told media, adding that it was unclear whether the men were shot by a third party.

“It’s quite possible that a meeting has taken place.”

Mr Ahmad’s criminal career dates back to 2002, when he was convicted of killing 39-year-old Mayez Dany in a June 11 attack.

Mr Ahmad, a bouncer at an Oxford St nightclub, had been involved in a fight with 18-year-old Khaled Hammoud outside former hotspot DCM in the early hours of June 9.

The nightclub was owned by underworld figure Sam Ibrahim.

When Mr Ahmad denied Mr Hammoud entry into the club, a fight broke out, and Mr Hammoud’s jaw was broken.

Later, Mr Dany, who was Mr Hammoud’s uncle, was shot multiple times by Mr Ahmad at a prearranged meeting at a car wreckers after a truce between the two men had apparently dissolved.

Mr Ahmad was the Automobile Wreckers’ proprietor at the time of the murder.

At the time, police alleged an accomplice to the murder “knew Ahmad would have a gun” when Mr Dany arrived at the scene.

He was sentenced to seven year’s jail on manslaughter and assault-related charges in 2005.

Today’s shooting took place at a major shopping centre, formerly known as Bankstown Centro, on the corner of Stacey St and Rickard Rd, in Sydney’s southwest.

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