A man has been shot dead in what is thought to be a gangland hit, before the suspected getaway car was found burnt out 3km away.
Emergency responders were called to Sutherland Street, Canley Heights in Sydney’s west at about 6.50 on Sunday night following reports shots had been fired.
Paramedics treated the man, thought to be in his 30s, for gunshot wounds at the scene but he was unable to be revived.
Several ambulances and police vehicles attended the scene, along with dozens or emergency personnel, while a helicopter flew overhead.
Officers and detectives were seen investigating the scene of the horrific shooting, going door to door to speak to the shocked residents of nearby houses.
Forensic officers were wearing gloves so as not to contaminate any evidence they gathered.
Local traffic was diverted down an alternative route, while police crime scene tape kept onlookers at a distance from where the man was shot.
Shortly after the shooting, a car was found well alight on Bathurst Street, in the nearby suburb of Wakeley.
A man was shot dead in suburban Sydney on Sunday. The scene of the shooting is pictured
The suspected getaway car (pictured) was later found burnt out 3km away in a nearby suburb
Police officers kept onlookers away from the burning white car, as it was engulfed in orange and red flames and thick black smoked curled up into the sky.
The sound of several mini-explosions from the blazing vehicle pierced the air, before a fire brigade arrived.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews extinguished the blaze, fortunately before any nearby vehicles parked by Welcome Park caught alight from the flying embers pouring from the car.
As of Sunday night, the suspected gunman remains on the run.
Police have received no other reports of injury.
Officers from Fairfield City Police Area Command attended and established a crime scene, which will be forensically examined.
About an hour after the shooting, several emergency vehicles left the scene, but as the light faded on Sutherland St, detectives and police officers were still looking for evidence and talking to potential witnesses.
‘Investigations into the incidents – which are believed to be linked – are underway by officers from Fairfield City Police Area Command, assisted by State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad,’ the NSW Police said in a statement.
‘A report will be prepared for the information of the Coroner.’
Paramedics (pictured) treated the man, thought to be in his 30s, for gunshot wounds at the scene but he was unable to be revived
The latest suspected Sydney gangland killing follows just over a month after Comanchero associate Nadal Acherkouk was shot dead in the carpark of a busy petrol station.
The police were called to Baptist Street in the inner city suburb of Surry Hills after gunshots were reported just before 8pm on Friday, November 22.
Police found Acherkouk, 31, near the carpark of a BP service station on the corner of Crown and Cleveland Streets.
The killers were wearing Batman-style capes as they ran towards him and sprayed him with bullets.
Acherkouk had links to underworld organisations in Sydney and was known to police at the time of his death.
South Sydney Police Area Command Superintendent Andrew Garner said he believed the attack was ‘targeted, and that (Acherkouk) was the intended target of that attack, and there’s no broader risk or threat to the public in relation to this’.
‘He was alone in his vehicle in the service station,’ Supt Garner added.
‘After that he got out of the vehicle and went on foot down Cleveland Street where he has succumbed to his injuries.’
Supt Garner said the incident was ‘outrageous’ and demonstrated a lack of regard for public safety in a busy and crowded part of the city.
‘We’ll be working very hard to identify and arrest those involved and hold them to account,’ he said.
In August, an underworld figure known as the ‘Angel of Death’ was shot dead in a hail of bullets in western Sydney, as police admitted there were ‘too many suspects and too many motives’ for the gangland hit.
Tarek Ayoub, 29, was peppered with up to seven bullets on Harold Street in Parramatta at around 3.30am on Monday, August 26.
A manhunt was launched for at least two gunmen who allegedly fled the scene in a stolen Audi sedan before setting it alight on a street around 4km from the crime scene at about 3.45am.
Witnesses saw them run from the burning car before fleeing in a white SUV.
Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Ayoub was visiting an associate when he was shot a ‘large number of times’ in the car park.
He said Ayoub was a known underworld associate with an extensive criminal background and his demise came as ‘no surprise’ to detectives because he ‘lived and died by the sword’.
‘It was a targeted shooting. He had a long history of violence,’ Detective Doherty told reporters.
‘He’s connected to several organised crime groups. He was known in the underworld as the Angel of Death.’
