A man has died following a targeted shooting in Sydney’s south-east overnight, sparking concerns the city’s underworld gang war is escalating and retaliatory gun violence is out of control in some areas.
The New South Wales police force has launched Taskforce Magnus in response to the latest killing and the ongoing conflict believed to be related to drug supply in the city’s south-west.
It will examine the spate of shootings stretching back to the fatal shooting of an underworld figure in Bondi Junction in June in or to determine any links between them.
The deputy commissioner, David Hudson, said there had been a concerning increase in tit-for-tat shootings over the past few years and police were doing everything they could to stop it.
“A few years ago, we had a lot of drive-by shootings,” he told 2GB this morning.
“That’s escalated over the last couple of years to actually doing targeted homicides and that is of significant concern to us.”
He said there were varying motivations behind each of the shootings but most had links to organised crime networks and Sydney’s lucrative illicit drug trade.
“Most of the shootings that have occurred have come down to the drug distribution networks within Sydney,” he said.
“Sydney is unfortunately one of the highest consumers of cocaine and methamphetamine in the world.”
Asked whether the situation was out of control, Hudson agreed.
Hudson said the shooting overnight was believed to have occurred following a verbal altercation between the victim and two other men.
“We believe two people engaged in conversation with the victim shortly prior to the shooting,” he said.
The man was shot on busy Broughton Street, Canterbury about 2am on Thursday, not far from where high-profile criminal lawyer Mahmoud Abbas was gunned down in his driveway in Greenacre on Wednesday morning. There is no suggestion Abbas was involved in any criminal activity.
Abbas, 31, has undergone emergency surgery after a gunman confronted him outside his Greenacre home.
The latest victim is yet to be formally identified but is believed to be in his 20s.
NSW police found the man with multiple gunshot wounds. He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
Officers have since found two burnt-out cars they believe were used by the gunmen.
The NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, described the latest shooting – the fifth this week – as “beyond comprehension” and vowed to bring anyone involved to justice.
“This brazen, dangerous, and criminal behaviour is intolerable in our society,” she said.
“We’ve all had it with these attacks. My message to the offenders is this: you will be found and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
She said police were “throwing everything at investigating these attacks” including their top detectives and that further resources would be provided to bring the attacks to an end.
“I want to assure the public of New South Wales that the New South Wales government will support the police with anything that they need to investigate this criminal activity and put these gangsters responsible, where they belong, behind bars,” Catley said.
In the case of Wednesday’s shooting of Abbas, Det Supt Adam Johnson said the criminal defence lawyer was about to get into his car when he was approached by an unknown person and shot.
“It is a brazen, clearly targeted shooting,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday.
“The motive and the reasoning behind it at this stage is too early to speculate.”
On Sunday three people were shot in Greenacre, leaving one 25-year-old man critically injured and a 22-year-old man and 19-year-old woman injured.
South-western Sydney suburbs are grappling with a gang-linked war involving a number of families. It has claimed at least 11 lives and flared up again in the past few months.
Abbas has represented several high-profile clients, including members of an alleged Islamic State-inspired terrorist cell charged with plotting to destroy Sydney landmarks and the controversial former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer.
In 2021 he appeared for the former NRL player Jamil Hopoate on drug charges.
He has also represented Sydney underworld figures, including handyman Ahmed Jaghbir in his trial over the assassination of Kemel Barakat.
