Omar Elomar’s group wanted to ‘sort out’ schoolboy brawl before he was shot dead, court told

A witness who found an 18-year-old lying on the road with a fatal gunshot wound has told a court it came after threats were exchanged over the phone.

A hooded man holding an object in front of his body walked towards a P-plater’s Lexus in a group of five people before a “very loud” gunshot rang out in a quiet Sydney street, a court has been told.

When a witness arrived on the scene they saw a bleeding 18-year-old Omar Elomar lying on the road by his car as residents in Cabramatta Ave rushed outside to perform CPR.

Noah Albert, 19, has faced the second day of his trial for the murder of Mr Elomar, who was fatally shot in the chest at a planned fight between two groups in the suburb of Miller last year.

Omar Elomar, 18, was shot dead near a park in Miller.

Mr Albert, who is not accused of being the shooter, has pleaded not guilty to murder and claimed he had no knowledge a gun would be present.

CCTV footage from the night played in court showed a series of cars driving through the streets near where Mr Elomar was killed with a shotgun just after 11pm on February 15, 2020.

Crown prosecutor Sean Hughes told the court the 18-year-old and several other teens had arrived in three vehicles “armed to the teeth” with cricket bats, stumps and baseball bats they bought earlier at Casula Kmart.

They had earlier been seeking people linked to a boy who had been involved in a schoolboy brawl with two young members of Mr Elomar’s family the night before, a witness said.

Noah Albert claims he didn’t know that a gun had been brought to the meeting until after it had been fired.

The witness, who can’t be named, told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the group armed themselves with the sporting equipment for protection because they “didn’t know what we were in for”.

Mr Albert, the witness said, became the touch point for the rival group and exchanged a series of text messages and phone calls with him.

Mr Albert was not involved in the brawl but the court was told he began talking to the group due to his links to a boy, who was his friend’s younger brother, involved in the previous fight.

It is not disputed that he was talking to the group and helped to organise the meeting.

The witness claimed someone involved in the fight told his group “we know Noah Albert” and he messaged a profile on Instagram before Mr Albert sent over his phone number.

CCTV footage of vehicles driving around the crime scene was shown in court. Picture: NSW Police,

He said he called Mr Albert about the brawl that left two “little kids … severely injured” as he wanted to “sort out that drama”.

“To see what’s happening, why’d they jump him and so on and so forth,” the witness said.

He denied his group was seeking a fight but said both parties quickly began trading threats before someone on Mr Albert’s phone told them to meet near Miller High School.

“There was words as in, ‘if you come we’ll kill ya, we’ll get you, we’ll smash you, stab you’, things along those lines,” he said “There was back and forth threats.”

His group went to Kmart to buy cricket packs and a baseball bat before driving separately to the planned meeting point, the witness said.

When he arrived he claimed to have seen a group walking closely together toward Mr Elomar’s car, which had arrived earlier, and said one of the men was holding a round object about 50cm long.

“I seen one in a hat and a hoodie and an object in his hand,” he said. “In my head it could have been anything. A bat … a sword, a gun.”

He kept driving past when he heard a gunshot, the court was told.

Noah Albert, then 18, was charged in February 2020.

By the time he made a U-turn and drove back the rival group had gone and residents in the street had run outside their homes.

“I didn’t see nothing … I just seen Omar’s car and Omar on the floor,” he said.

The court was told that Mr Albert was the only man charged over the shooting and was expected to give evidence about the mystery gunman’s identity during the trial.

He so far had withheld the name due to pressure placed on him by the gunman’s family, his barrister had said.

Then 18, he was initially charged with concealing an indictable offence but that was upgraded to murder after forensic police found a palmprint matching his on Mr Elomar’s car.

The crown contends Mr Albert was part of a plan to injure, or severely injure, Mr Elomar and was likely aware of the gun’s presence due to its size and his alleged proximity to the shooting.

The trial continues.