By Marta Pascual Juanola, Lachlan Abbott and Robyn Grace
A group of masked gunmen used three getaway vehicles to flee the scene of a fatal daylight shooting in a busy shopping centre car park on Saturday and one is believed to have been burnt as they torched a car, police say.
Robert Issa was shot dead in a Craigieburn car park.
Craigieburn man Robert Issa died and another man was seriously injured when the four balaclava-clad men sprayed their white Mercedes SUV with bullets in front of horrified shoppers outside Craigieburn Central shopping centre about 3pm.
Police commander Paul O’Halloran said on Sunday that the shooting was linked to organised crime syndicates involved in escalating violence over illicit tobacco profits.
This masthead revealed on Saturday evening that the deadly car park shooting was linked to a string of tobacco shop firebombings believed to be part of a turf war between organised criminals, according to three underworld sources.
Superintendent Jason Kelly, from the state anti-gang division, said police had established a national squad, named the Lunar taskforce, to investigate the illicit tobacco trade, which involves Middle Eastern and outlaw motorcycle crime gangs.
In August, this masthead revealed those groups were warring for control of a lucrative racket extorting tobacco shops and torching those that did not sell their illegal tobacco.
Young offenders had been engaged to carry out some of the recent spate of tobacco shop firebombings across the city, Kelly said on Sunday.
O’Halloran, from Victoria Police’s Crime Command, confirmed Saturday’s shooting victim, 27-year-old Issa, was known to police.
While Saturday’s shooting was connected to organised crime groups involved in the tobacco wars, police were still to determine the exact motive for the attack, he said.
“There’s a number of disputes that are occurring within these organised crime groups. Some of them relate to illicit tobacco, some of them can relate to drugs ... and some can be other financial, personal disputes.”
Investigators are also probing whether a drive-by shooting at a home in Excelsior Heights, Craigieburn, linked to Issa was connected to Saturday’s shooting. A couple in their 50s sleeping inside the home were lucky to escape injury during the September 14 attack, which caused extensive damage to the facade of the property.
O’Halloran said he was thankful no one else was injured in Saturday’s fatal attack.
“It would have been incredibly frightening for people in the car park at that time to witness,” he said. “Incidents such as this and the indiscriminate use of firearms is completely unacceptable, particularly in public areas at any time.”
He said police had rolled out “mitigation measures” to prevent retaliation attacks.
The two victims were sitting in their parked car at the shopping centre when gunshots were fired through the passenger side and rear windows.
While Issa was killed, a 28-year-old man from Hadfield was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital with serious injuries and remained in a stable condition on Sunday.
Police said one of the getaway cars was a black Range Rover Sport, which was later found torched in Westmeadows, about 12 kilometres south of the shooting scene.
One of the gunmen is believed to have suffered burns when the Range Rover was set on fire.
A car destroyed by fire at Westmeadows on Sunday morning.Credit: Luis Ascui
O’Halloran said the offenders were then seen crossing a footbridge before getting into a blue Toyota Corolla, which was found burnt out on the banks of Merri Creek near Hamersley Court, Reservoir, just after 5.30pm on Saturday. The group then piled into a third getaway vehicle and fled.
O’Halloran said witnesses and dashcam footage would be vital to the investigation and urged anyone with information to contact police.
Hours after the offenders fled, a distressed group of people huddled together at the crime scene until after dark on Saturday. Some had to be restrained at times as they clashed with police while trying to get closer to the bullet-riddled car and the sheet covering a figure on the ground beside it.
A second burnt out car linked to a fatal Craigieburn targeted shooting sits wrecked on the Merri Creek’s banks on Sunday.Credit: Luis Ascui
People could be heard crying as detectives and forensic officers combed the scene nearby.
One witness, who did not want to be identified, said they saw several men wearing balaclavas jump out of a car before gunshots rang out on Saturday.
“[The gunshots] stopped and they sped off. I had to swerve so my car didn’t get hit,” they said.
The witness said they saw blood on the neck of the seriously injured victim.
The shooting was the latest in a series of targeted killings carried out in public in Melbourne in recent months.
Underworld figure Gavin “Capable” Preston was shot dead at a cafe in Keilor in a daylight hit last month. Abbas Jr “AJ” Maghnie, the son of late underworld enforcer Nabil Maghnie, was seriously injured in the shooting, which sparked fears of a new gangland war.
Preston, one of Melbourne’s most violent gangland figures, had long been waging bloody feuds with other underworld identities. A contract was taken out on his life after his release from prison this year as his many enemies doubted his claims he would leave old rivalries behind.
Preston had also tried to muscle in on the lucrative extortion racket being waged against Melbourne’s tobacco retailers that led to more than a dozen firebombings since rival organised crime gangs began fighting over the trade earlier this year.
O’Halloran said the Preston killing and Issa’s shooting death seemed to be separate incidents. When asked about the investigation into Preston’s death, he said: “I’m confident we’ll bring the person or people responsible to justice sooner rather than later.”
In August, police also began to probe whether the tobacco feud could be connected to the murder of underworld figure Mohammed “Afghan Ali” Akbar Keshtiar, who was gunned down near Chapel Street while walking home from the gym.
However, Keshtiar had a long, violent history of other underworld disputes and had been an assassination target before.
Police Superintendent Jason Kelly said a significant investigation into the illegal tobacco trade had been under way for six months and 13 people had so far been arrested.
The new taskforce includes officers from Victoria, as well as Australian Border Force, the Tax Office and Australian Federal Police. Kelly said they were aware of “a number of major players” involved in the crime syndicates.
The Craigieburn shooting came just hours after another tobacco shop was apparently firebombed in Melbourne’s south-east.
The back of the shop in Bentleigh was set alight about 1.30am on Saturday, days after police CCTV cameras were set up outside the shopfront and weeks after it was first targeted in September.
Police confirmed they were investigating the Bentleigh fire’s connection to the tobacco wars.
Anyone who witnessed Saturday’s shooting or has dashcam vision can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
With Sherryn Groch
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