Auburn kebab shop shooting: Police probe link between two car fires in Western Sydney and underworld shooting
Alleged underworld figure Samimjan Azari, 26, was targeted for the third time early Monday afternoon while inside M Brothers Takeaway shop in the Western Sydney suburb of Auburn.
It is understood at least two masked gunmen opened fire on the Turkish kebab shop, hitting Azari in the arm and shoulder while a male friend was struck in the face.
A woman working at the eatery was shot twice in the torso.
Police said the shooters tried to get access to an office inside the restaurant before they fled the scene in a black Audi Q7 with cloned number plates.
A few hours later a car matching the description was found on fire in Harris Park.
Emergency services were then called to two other vehicles fires in the area at Merrylands and Greystanes within ten minutes of one another early Friday morning.
The first blaze happened at the driveway of a Hilltop Road home in Merrylands about 3.10am. Firefighters extinguished the fire but the car sustained significant damage.
Later, a vehicle also parked outside a home was torched on Gerald Street in Greystanes.
Neighbours helped put out the flames but the car was destroyed.
A crime scene has been set up at both locations, with officers from Taskforce Falcon - who are also investigating the shooting - looking into the suspicious fires.
NSW Police Acting Commissioner Peter Thurtell on Monday said the gunmen walked into the Turkish eatery and fired at least eight shots during lunch time.
"It's beyond comprehension that three people be shot in a crowded Sydney street in broad daylight," he said at a press conference.
Azari had survived two other attempted assassinations, one just weeks earlier in May and the other in February. He expressed concerns about his life on Friday.
The 26-year-old had reported to Auburn Police Station about one hour before the shooting.
'The fact that he was out again in public, I don't know what that says, to be honest, about what he was thinking," Act Comm Thurtell said on Monday.
According to The Daily Telegraph, police are looking into whether the gunmen were hired on Airtasker, an online marketplace people used to help complete everyday tasks.
Detectives are also probing whether the Auburn gunmen are the same ones who targeted three men parked at traffic lights in Granville last month.
Alleged Alameddine associate Darwood Zakaria, 32, died after being shot in the head.
Driver and lawyer Sylvan Singh, 25, desperately tried to escape and drove towards Parramatta before he stopped the car on Church St, near the M4 Motorway offramp.
The series of shootings in Sydney has sparked fears of an all-out gangland war.
Taskforce Falcon will look into 11 incidents dating back to December 2024.
It includes at least six public place shootings across Sydney, arsons at barbershops and the two shooting murders of John Versace, 23, who was set upon by a gunman in Condell Park, and David Khou, 31, gunned down outside his Canley Heights home.
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