By Fergus Hunter
An 18-year-old shot dead in Sydney’s west on Wednesday morning was aware he was heading down a troubled path before he and his father became the latest fatalities of intractable gangland conflict, his lawyer says.
Homicide squad detectives are leading an investigation into the drive-by shooting in suburban Guildford of Salim Hamze and Toufik Hamze, 64, which police have linked to tensions between rival crime networks across south-west Sydney.
Salim Hamze, 18, and his father were killed in a shooting on Wednesday morning, thought to be linked to an ongoing gangland conflict.
Emergency services were called about 8.55am and found the men with catastrophic wounds inside a ute on suburban Osgood Street.
Salim Hamze was declared dead at the scene while his father was rushed by paramedics to Westmead Hospital, where he died, police said in a statement.
A burnt-out car, thought to be the vehicle used in the Wednesday shooting, was found in nearby Murdock Lane and police are now searching for two men and a Ford Mustang.
“Shortly after that vehicle was set on fire, a grey or dark-coloured Ford Mustang sedan two-door was seen leaving that location,” NSW Police state crime command director, Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett, said on Wednesday afternoon.
Police investigate a burnt-out car in Murdock Lane after two men were shot earlier on Osgood Street, Guildford.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“The police are very interested in speaking to the occupants of that vehicle or anyone who may have seen that vehicle.”
Lawyer Ahmed Dib, who had been representing the 18-year-old on firearms charges laid by police last month, said the deaths were the devastating result of underworld conflict.
“The father had nothing to do with it,” Mr Dib said.
Mr Dib said he had spoken to Salim Hamze last week after a police officer pulled over the 18-year-old on a driving matter and subsequently got in touch with Mr Dib.
“The officer said he appeared to be a young man, a good man, who was going down the wrong path and said to maybe have a word with him,” Mr Dib said. “So I contacted him and we had a quite open and candid conversation.”
Salim Hamze told his lawyer he came from a good family and “he wanted to excel in life in a positive way”, saying he intended to move out of the area and pursue a career in construction with his father.
The 18-year-old, whose last name is recorded as Hamiz in police and court databases, is not thought to be a close relative of senior figures in the crime family. Different branches of the family use the variations Hamzy and Hamze of the common surname.
Criminal groups squad commander, Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor, said rival criminal networks, aligned with different families, were fighting for control of the drug trade.
He said the violent attacks were aimed at “getting their message across to individuals who are competing against them in the drug territories”.
Violent tensions between the Hamze and Alameddine crime families have claimed multiple lives across the city over the past year.
Four men with the last name Hamze or Hamzy have now been killed: Mejid Hamzy in October last year in Condell Park, Bilal Hamze in the CBD in June, and the father and son gunned down on Wednesday.
Salim Hamze came from a good family and wanted to turn his life around, his lawyer says.
There have also been a number of near misses. Police said another family member, Ibrahem Hamze, is lucky to be alive after police inadvertently discovered two armed men near his address in North Sydney in August. A Hamze family home was also targeted in a shooting in February.
Mr Bennett said police were worried about reprisals and would be working proactively, including with the officers of the gangs-focused Raptor Squad, to stop the conflict from escalating.
“The main focus is a number of known families involved in serious and organised crime so we’ll be chasing up every lead in relation to this matter, and we might have to act proactively against people in the coming days,” he said.
Mr Bennett said Salim Hamze was “known to us as a person who was sometimes under threat, and known to be involved in criminal organisations”.
He was on bail after being charged last month for possessing an unregistered pistol. He fled when confronted by police at a property in Auburn in September and was arrested after a brief chase.
Mr Dib said Salim Hamze’s immediate family seemed like “absolutely lovely people”.
“I think it’s absolutely tragic when you have young people who haven’t even begun their lives yet falling victim to what they say is gang-related crime,” he said.
Osgood Street was cordoned off by police on Wednesday as forensic specialists examined the crime scene and officers from the Raptor Squad kept watch.
Investigators were going door to door in the surrounding houses and streets, interviewing neighbours about what they saw.
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