By Perry Duffin and Jessica McSweeney
He was the man you would go to if you wanted someone killed. Now the “Angel of Death” has been gunned down in a late-night execution that bears all the signs of a professional hit.
Tarek Ayoub earned his fearsome nickname organising gangland murders that shocked Sydney last year, police say. This also earned him powerful enemies, who ended his life in a quiet Parramatta street just after 3am on Monday.
The crime scene on Harold Street, Parramatta, where underworld figure Tarek Ayoub, known as the “Angel of Death”, was shot dead on Monday. Credit: James Brickwood.
Emergency services were called to Harold Street, Parramatta, following reports of gunfire.
“I heard about six shots; it woke us up,” one neighbour told the Herald on Monday. “I’d never heard bullets in person before, but we were pretty sure what it was.”
Slain underworld figure Tarek Ayoub.
Ayoub, 29, was found riddled with bullets and surrounded by spent casings – it appeared multiple gunmen had ambushed the gangster as he left an associate’s unit.
“He lived by the sword and died by the sword,” homicide squad commander Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said.
“He was a person very well known for being involved in organised crime.”
Publicly, Ayoub was only known as a lesser name in the death of teenager Brayden Dillon, who was shot dead in his bed in 2017.
But he was suspected of being involved in assassinations across Sydney in the past few years.
The shootings did not begin with cocaine kingpin Alen Moradian’s execution in the underground car park of his ritzy Bondi unit on June 27, 2023. But they certainly escalated in the months that followed.
In July alone two men survived a shooting in a Marrickville hair salon and three people were shot in Greenacre – Ahmad Al-Azzam died. Meanwhile, criminal defence lawyer Mahmoud Abbas was shot in his western Sydney driveway, and low-level dealer Ferenc Stemler was killed in the street in Canterbury.
The apartment building on Harold Street, Parramatta, where Tarek Ayoub was shot and killed. Credit: Kate Geraghty
NSW Police set up Task Force Magnus to end the tit-for-tat violence.
Ayoub, who also goes by the name Torek, was on the radar of Magnus and repeatedly came up as they investigated violent crime across the city.
He was also being sought by underworld figures who knew “Ayoub was the guy you’d go to if you wanted someone killed”, according to one police source.
Doherty said there was a long list of reasons to kill Ayoub and an equally long list of suspects.
“Too many suspects, too many motives,” Doherty said on Monday morning.
“He’s got a long history … Accessory to murder, firearm offences, drug offences … He was well known for a number of violent offences, investigations including homicide – so it was no surprise to us how he met his demise.”
Just 15 minutes after Ayoub was shot, an Audi SUV was found engulfed in flames on A’Beckett Street in Granville.
The car was reported as stolen. Fire and Rescue NSW crews extinguished the blaze, which was threatening nearby homes and cars, but the car was destroyed.
An Audi SUV was set on fire in Granville.Credit: Fire and Rescue NSW
Police are treating the fire as suspicious and are investigating any potential links to the shooting.
Two men were seen leaving the scene of the fire in a white SUV.
A new police strike force, Juneau, has been established to uncover how Ayoub became the latest Sydney execution.
Like many other killings, including those he may have plotted, Ayoub was ambushed while returning to his car outside a residential home.
Forensic examination of a “large amount of ballistic evidence” left on Harold Street will be key to solving the crime, Doherty said.
“This was a message sent to Tarek Ayoub and it was certainly received,” he said.
“It was very loud and clear, they meant to kill him, and they left a large number of casings behind to show that they meant business.”
Police are giving Ayoub’s family time and space to grieve, but will rely on them to help piece the crime together.
Ayoub’s normally quiet street in Yagoona was lined with Mercedes sports cars and jacked-up utes on Monday.
Visibly upset and angry men paced the street, embraced, or drove laps of the neighbourhood under the security cameras which look out from Ayoub’s front verandah.
Online, an Islamic prayer page called for Allah to comfort Ayoub’s family and friends, “my sweet beautiful cousin” one replied.
“To many brothers dying to many mothers and fathers left broken ya Allah guide our ummah, guide our youth,” the prayer read.
As local detectives comb the streets for evidence, Premer Chris Minns and Police Commissioner Karen Webb were also in Parramatta to open the new $46.6 million police station.
Detectives are urging anyone with CCTV, dashcam footage or information about either incident to come forward and contact police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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