Western Sydney shooting passenger may have been repeat target, man shot in head not expected to survive
Two uninjured passengers have been arrested after the targeted shooting of a car containing Alameddine associate Dawood Zakaria.
Charges have been laid over gun offences after two men were shot in Sydney’s west – one in the head and the other in the arm – when their car was targeted on Sunday, with police saying an occupant may have been shot at previously.
Two passengers in a Toyota ute’s back seat during the shooting, 28-year-old Levi Vitukawalu and 26-year-old Samimjan Azari, escaped uninjured.
Both men fronted court on Monday, charged with possessing an unauthorised pistol and breaching a firearms prohibition order after a gun was found in the vehicle.
Dawood Zakaria, a 32-year-old linked to the Alameddine crime syndicate, and 25-year-old solicitor Sylvan Singh, who is believed to be an innocent victim, are being treated for injuries.
Mr Singh is stable in hospital, with Mr Zakaria critical and not expected to survive.
The drive-by Granville shooting from a Mercedes took place on the suburb’s border with Parramatta near the on-ramp to the M4 highway, about 5.10pm on Sunday.
Superintendent Jason Box said “potentially one of the occupants was a victim of a shooting at Brighton Le Sands a number of months ago”.
“The solicitor was known to police through his association of who, he represents,” he said.
Superintendent Box said the shooting took place with “a large number of people on the road”.
“There’s always a risk of harm or injury to other persons depending on how the incident goes,” he said.
The Toyota continued to drive for a short while after the shooting, fleeing the scene and mounting a median strip as captured by dashcam footage.
Reassuring the public, Superintendent Box said the police response would be “extremely proactive in targeting potential offenders for this matter”.
“We’re aware of the organised crime networks that exist. We’re aware of the potential violence they can use,” he said.
A car fire on Sherwood Street in the nearby suburb of Merrylands 10 minutes after the shooting is being treated as related to the incident, police said.
A nearby tree caught fire in the blaze. The car was destroyed.
Police are investigating links to two further burnt-out cars found in surrounding suburbs, a Mazda sedan in Woodpark and an Audi in Winston Hills.
Superintendent Box said police were “unsure at this stage if [the cars] were used in relation to this offence”.
The car targeted in the shooting sustained broken windows and flat tyres, as well as a bullet hole in its driver’s side door.
Police at the scene inspected debris on the ground near the car, including a wallet, tissues and toilet paper. Two men at the scene were spoken to by police and had their hands forensically wrapped in paper bags for evidence.
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