Police make a shocking admission after innocent woman was shot as Sydney gang war erupts
A triple shooting outside a busy restaurant in Sydney 's west, which critically injured an innocent woman, is suspected to have been carried out by two men hired online.
Samimjan Azari, 26, an underworld figure, survived a third attempt on his life on Monday after two masked men stormed M Brothers kebab shop at South Parade in Auburn about 1.15pm.
An innocent 50-year-old was caught in the crossfire and shot twice in the torso while Azari suffered gunshot wounds to his arm and shoulder and an unknown man, believed to be acting as a bodyguard, was shot in the face.
Police recently warned that Azari was at the 'epicentre' of gangland tensions in the city.
An update on the condition of the trio about 6pm Monday revealed that Azari and the woman were stable, while other man was in a serious condition.
A burnt out Audi Q7, the suspected getaway car, was found about the same time in nearby Harris Park.
On Tuesday, police dismissed speculation by The Daily Telegraph that the two gunmen had been hired on an Airtasker-style online platform.
But they insisted the gangland warlords used encrypted messaging apps to recruit their hitmen killers.
During a press conference on Monday, police minister Yasmin Catley said the gunmen will be held accountable as she shared her anger at an innocent woman getting caught up in the gangland shooting.
'All she did was go to work and she has been caught up in this shocking event,' she said.
'It's one thing for criminals to be shooting each other but when innocent people get caught up in this, it is absolutely abhorrent and we will not tolerate it.'
NSW Police Acting Commissioner Peter Thurtell added: 'It's frightening to know that this is happening in a suburban street in the middle of the day.
'It's completely unacceptable that this sort of behaviour should happen in Sydney.
'We will do everything we can to bring these gunman to justice. It's as simple as that. We will make sure that we go and go until we bring these people to justice.'
Witnesses said two men with their faces covered entered the South Parade kebab shop and fired eight bullets.
Video captured the moment paramedics raced a man into an ambulance while he was bleeding heavily from his head.
At the time of the shooting, the area was bustling with people on their lunch break and heading to the nearby Auburn train station.
The shooting comes less than three weeks after Police Minister Catley announced the formation of Taskforce Falcon — a new strike force targeting a recent spate of underworld shootings.
Police sources are reported to have said a split between the Alameddines and the KVT gang members, who were once the former's enforcers, is the reason behind the latest run of violence in the city.
Last month, police warned a court there would be 'bloodshed on the sheets' if Azari was granted bail after he was charged with possessing an unauthorised gun allegedly found inside a ute.
He had been the target of a previous daylight shooting incident on May 25 at Granville, which killed Dawood Zakaria, when a gunman opened fire at their vehicle at a set of traffic lights.
Azari's first attempt on his life took place at Brighton-Le-Sands back in February, but he escaped without serious injury.
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