Ambushed bikie boss knew he was marked man: Police
Comanchero bikie boss Tarek Zahed was repeatedly warned he was a target before he and his brother were gunned down in a hail of bullets outside a Sydney gym on Tuesday night.
Mr Zahed, 41, suffered up to 10 gunshot wounds to his body, including to his head, and was taken to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition.
His brother Omar, 39, after the pair were sprayed with gunfire in the foyer of the Body Fit gym on Parramatta Road, Auburn, about 8pm on Tuesday.
Omar Zahed was treated for multiple gunshot wounds to his stomach, arms and legs.
“He was in cardiac arrest and sadly could not be saved,” NSW Ambulance said in a statement.
Tarek has since undergone surgery. Police said on Wednesday he remained in a stable condition.
Authorities described the scene at the western Sydney gym as “horrific and confronting”.
“Both patients had suffered significant blood loss and one of them had gone into traumatic cardiac arrest,” NSW Ambulance Inspector Kevin McSweeney said.
“There was multiple gunshot wounds all over their bodies. Paramedics did everything they could, but despite best efforts he died at the scene.
“This was an horrific and confronting scene that unfolded in front of several witnesses. It is very fortunate no other members of the public were injured.”
Tarek Zahed was shot all over his body and in the head, but survived. Photo: Supplied
Police found two Audis on fire in the nearby suburbs of Berala and Greenacre a short time after the attack.
Multiple crime scenes have been established and Homicide Squad detectives are leading the investigation under Strike Force Leary, with help from the Criminal Groups and Raptor Squads, as well as local police.
Police are targeting known members and associates of involved criminal networks.
The shooting comes just two weeks after gangland figure Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was gunned down on a Greenacre street.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the latest shooting could have been retaliation for the killing of Mr Ahmad.
“We can’t rule it out,” she told Sydney radio 2GB on Wednesday.
“Some of these people are in conflict with a number of other groups and it is hard to pinpoint if it is direct retaliation or not.”
Thirty more officers have joined Strike Force Raptor, which deals with outlaw motorcycle gang criminal activity.
“Enough is enough,” Commissioner Webb said.
“The community in south-west Sydney, western Sydney, have had enough.”
NSW Police had warned Tarek Zahed there was a bounty on his head.
“Some of these people think they’re invincible,” Commissioner Webb said.
“You try to warn them but they just live their lives like they are larger than life.”
NSW Labor has renewed its calls for Premier Dominic Perrottet to take action on western Sydney gang violence.
Mr Perrottet said the Raptor Squad was well equipped and warned criminals there was zero tolerance for gang activity.
“They’re going to hunt you down and they’re going to lock you up,” he said, adding police would be given any extra resources required and people should not feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods.
“We have one of the lowest crime rates in recorded history in our state,” he said.
Last week, Investigations and Counter Terrorism Deputy Commissioner David Hudson told a parliamentary hearing there had been 11 gang-related homicides in the past two years sparked by rivalries in Sydney’s criminal underworld.
Since June 2020, there have been more than 40 major known violent incidents between gangs in NSW.
Police are also investigating a targeted shooting at a home on Milford Road, Londonderry, in Sydney’s north-west, just before 9pm on Tuesday.
Police say a 37-year-old man was shot in both legs by a man wearing high-vis clothing and a face covering who burst into the home.
The injured man was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.
-with AAP