Gangland shooting claims two members of Hamze clan

The slaying of two members of the notorious Hamze family is a major escalation of the war between feuding crime groups.

A brutal broad daylight shooting in Sydney’s west has left two members of the notorious Hamze crime family dead in a major escalation of its gangland war with the rival Alameddine clan.

By the time emergency ser­vices arrived at the scene in Guildford, 18-year-old Salim Hamze was dead; beside him in a red ­tradie’s ute, his father, Toufik Hamze, had been mortally wounded.

The 64-year-old would die a short time later in Westmead Hospital, collateral damage in a targeted hit on his son.

That the killers thought nothing of executing a man simply because he bore the name Hamze says everything about the bloody feud that has engulfed the two families.

Earlier this year, a bullet narrowly missed a nurse at Auburn Hospital after a passing car shot up the home of relative Bilal Hamze’s mother, who had previously been shot in the legs at the front door of her home.

Four months later, Bilal himself was dead, gunned down in Sydney’s CBD after dining on $200 worth of Wagyu beef, kingfish and sashimi in one of the city’s more upmarket restaurants.

The family’s godfather, Bassam Hamze, founded the Brothers 4 Life gang in 2007 while in jail serving 40 years for murder.

Forensic officers are inspecting a burnt vehicle near the scene of the shooting. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

But the savage war with the Alameddine family, which began as an argument between the two families fighting over drug turf, has been escalating since October 2020 when Bassam’s brother Mejid was executed outside his southwest Sydney home.

Exclusive: The Australian has obtained footage of a Lexus SUV police confirmed is linked to a fatal shooting of two members of Sydney’s notorious #Hamze family.

It is seen speeding down a quiet Guildford street just seconds before it was set on fire pic.twitter.com/XukG4L6ZF0

— Liam Mendes (@liammendes) October 20, 2021

The double murder on Wednesday had all the hallmarks of a professional job.

A burnt-out silver Lexus SUV was found nearby in Murdoch Lane following the shooting.

Footage obtained by @australian shows a Lexus 4WD with expired number plates on fire, reportedly linked to the fatal shooting of two members of Sydney's notorious #Hamze family in Guildford pic.twitter.com/tXZbP9m4BW

— Liam Mendes (@liammendes) October 20, 2021

Police have confirmed it is linked to the shooting and are now searching for a dark-­coloured two-door Ford Mustang. Service NSW records show that the 2018-model Lexus’s registration expired almost two months ago.

A family living nearby on Linthorne Street who were homeschooling their children at the time of the shooting told The Australian they heard the shots, which scared their children.

Fearing for their safety, the couple vowed to keep their children inside in the future.

“My kids were very anxious to know that there’s guns in the area, especially considering it was just the street behind us,” the mother of three told The Australian.

The scene of the shooting in Sydney. Picture: 7 News

“I’m not going to even have them out here anymore; I’ll take them to the park,” she said.

“We’ve got a nice neighbourhood, very friendly people. There’s never trouble here. You don’t think it would happen in your backyard.”

“Five minutes after I heard the gunshots, all we could hear was ambulances and sirens and helicopters,” her 13-year-old son said.

Police said proactive “intelligence-based targeting” of known gang members and criminal networks had already begun.

“This is another appalling crime in a long list of gangland-style shootings,” Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett said.

Police do not anticipate an early end to the bloodshed.

At Bilal Hamze’s funeral in June, his body was ­carried in a coffin contained in a bright green shroud bearing the words “Every soul shall taste death”.