A man who survived a targeted attack in Campsie last year in which he sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and head has again lived to tell the tale after being shot at Winston Hills on Wednesday, the third time he has been the victim of a public place shooting in four years.
Police were called to Dale Place, a quiet cul-de-sac in the Hills District, in Sydney’s west, just before 11pm after reports of a shooting.
The burning Jeep Grand Cherokee in Northmead on Wednesday night.Credit: Nine News
There, investigators found Vailena Kolomotangi suffering from four gunshot wounds. Police say he was shot in the driveway of the home, which belongs to a relative.
The 28-year-old remains under police guard in hospital for his own safety, and investigators are yet to speak to him.
Ten minutes after the shooting, emergency services were called to Redbank Road, Northmead, where they found a Jeep Grand Cherokee “well alight”, police said in a media release on Thursday.
Police have seized a number of vehicles, Detective Superintendent Barry Vincent said on Thursday afternoon.
A car used in an attempted hit in Campsie in 2023 is burnt out.Credit: Nine
Last year, Kolomotangi was ambushed as he left an underground car park in Campsie in Sydney’s south-west, in what police described at the time as most likely targeted. He recovered from his head and chest wounds, but that crime remains unsolved.
During the 2023 Campsie incident, getaway cars were also set alight and abandoned. The night of the shooting, a white Mercedes that transported the shooter – a masked man brandishing pistols in each hand – crashed into a home in nearby Kingsgrove and caught fire.
Soon after, investigators found a black Mazda CX-5 alight in Berala, in Sydney’s west. In the days that followed, they found a black Kia and a silver Nissan Pulsar alight.
In 2020, Kolomotangi was sitting in a Toyota Camry with a friend when two men opened fire. He was shot in the arm.
The third attempt on Kolomotangi’s life comes as police release chilling vision of a shooting at a western Sydney home, which detectives believe could be connected to a fight inside Parklea prison earlier this year.
Ali “Ay Huncho” Younes, a rapper and associate of the Alameddine crime family, was sitting in the prison’s visiting area on June 12 when he was allegedly attacked by Sesita Lyzwa, affiliated with Alameddine rivals OneFour.
Both men were charged over the prison brawl.
Two days later, the hatchback of Lyzwa’s mother was set alight in the driveway of the family’s Willmot home. Emergency services extinguished the blazing car about 3am.
Authorities had to return just before midnight, when five rounds were fired into the weatherboard home.
Footage released by the police on Thursday shows the shots being fired from a moving Toyota Prado, which investigators say was stolen.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.