By Megan Gorrey
A man in his 30s is dead and police are hunting a group of masked offenders who allegedly bashed him and stabbed him in the stomach in a random attack in Sydney’s west on Saturday afternoon.
It was the second alleged fatal knife attack in the city within hours.
Police say the victim was walking with a friend along Bangor Street in Guildford when three men, clad in black clothes and face coverings, jumped out of a car and ambushed the pair about 1.45pm.
The pair had parked their car in nearby Cardigan Street, where they ate a pizza, and they were walking towards a friend’s home when the trio burst out of the blue/silver Toyota sedan and attacked them.
Superintendent Andrew Holland said the victim’s friend managed to distract one of the offenders and escape, but the victim was “severely beaten” by two of the men.
The friend retrieved his car and returned to Bangor Street a short time later.
“He’s driven back to the location where the victim was lying on the street with severe stomach injuries,” Holland said.
The witness drove the injured man, believed to be 37, to Westmead Hospital about 2.15pm.
The man had surgery but he died about 6pm. He has not been formally identified.
Holland said neither man had links to organised crime or bikie gangs, and the motive was unclear.
He said it was a concern they were attacked “in the middle of the day, in the middle of the street”.
“The [offenders] obviously had intent when they went to that location. They knew what they were up to, and our victim and our witness were in the wrong place at the wrong time by the looks [of it],” he said.
Police have set up a crime scene in Bangor Street and are urging witnesses, or anyone who might have dashcam footage from the area, to come forward.
In a separate incident on Saturday, a 15-year-old boy was charged with the murder of a man in his 30s who was allegedly stabbed to death in Concord, in Sydney’s inner west, about 12.30am.
Holland said two fatal alleged stabbing attacks in Sydney on Saturday were worrying.
“It’s a major concern across the whole of society at the moment. Everyone seems to think they need to carry a knife to protect themselves; they don’t need to carry knives at all, it’s an offence,” he said.
“Police will take action against anyone caught carrying knives.”
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