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News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
‘Abhorrent': Kebab shop worker latest innocent victim caught in gangland crossfire
A kebab shop employee fighting for her life in hospital after being hit twice in the stomach in Sydney's latest brazen gangland shooting has been identified as Yurdagul Aydogu. The 50-year-old employee at M Brothers Takeaway, known as Gul, was caught in the crossfire with police describing her as an innocent victim simply doing her job. Ms Aydogu is in a critical condition, in an induced coma at Westmead Hospital. Police say the shooting, in front of a busy lunchtime crowd in Auburn, was a targeted underworld hit. Alleged gangland figure Samimjan Azari, 26, was the intended target, with detectives revealing it was the fourth time an attempt had been made on his life. Video footage shows Azari grabbing a chair to shield himself as two masked men run at him, while firing bullets at him and a man said to be his bodyguard. Ms Aydogu was hit in the midsection by two stray bullets. She is the 14th innocent person caught in the crossfire of the escalating gang wars said to have been sparked by a feud between the Alameddine crime clan and their former enforcers, the KVT. State Police Minister Yasmin Catley said this week it was 'abhorrent' that civilians were being caught in the crossfire of apparent underworld violence. 'A woman has been caught up in this event, an innocent victim doing her job, all she did is 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.' Since the gang war began in October 2020, seven innocent people have been shot dead and at least another seven have been injured. Plumber John Versace was killed in a case of mistaken identity in May this year. A masked gunman dived from a Corolla and fired 10 shots at the young plumber in Condell Park as he screamed at him to stop. Described by relatives as 'a beautiful boy, an innocent boy,' Mr Versace had no known criminal associations. Thi Kim Tran, a 45-year-old mother originally from Vietnam, was tragically killed in Sydney on April 17 in what authorities described as a targeted act of gang-related violence. She was abducted from her home in Bankstown by five masked men and later found dead in a burnt-out SUV in Beverly Hills. Police believe the attack was linked to her partner's alleged involvement with an organised crime syndicate. During the home invasion, Ms Tran's eight-year-old son was severely beaten with a baseball bat and placed in an induced coma, while her 15-year-old son witnessed the traumatic event. Authorities have emphasised that Ms Tran and her children had no involvement in criminal activities. A month earlier, grandmother Kim Duncan was killed when she was hit by a slew of bullets which were fired into her Ambarvale home. Ms Duncan was not the intended target, but tragically died when she was struck by a piece of shrapnel. In 2023, Ahmad Al Azzam, 25, was killed and a young couple seriously injured in a bungled gangland shooting at an industrial estate in Greenacre. An innocent couple were also caught up in the shooting after the gunman's shots pierced their car parked 50 metres down the street. Kaashif Richards, 22, was shot in the neck and Achiraya Jantharat, 19, was shot in the back. Police sources said while Richards and Jantharat were together, they did not know Al-Azzam – who also did not have gang links. In the same year Taha Sabbagh, a 40-year-old father and well-known chauffeur in Sydney's Middle Eastern community, was killed in a targeted shooting outside the Elite Fight Force gym in Sefton. A getaway driver has been jailed, with the case playing out in court as one of mistaken identity. An innocent Sydney hairdresser was shot dead in 2022. Amy Al-Hazouri, 39, was shot dead alongside 48-year-old Lametta Fadlallah when their car was sprayed with bullets in Panania in what police labelled a targeted 'assassination'. Also in 2022, Toufik Hamze, 64, was executed alongside his son Salim, 18, as they cleaned a car outside their Guildford home. While Salim was believed to have been caught up in the underworld, Mr Toufik was just collateral, executed at close range. Also in 2022, a nine-year-old girl was shot in Connells Point as she walked from the car to the front of her home. It was an attack that sickened police, and left her with life long injuries. In 2021, Mustapha Naaman, 29, was killed in a volley of gunfire as he left a boxing fight night. Police again believe it was a case of mistaken identity. In the same year Rama Osman was shot in the head with a stray bullet while he was sitting in his car a few hundred metres up the road when low-level Alameddine crime clan member Shady Kanj was assassinated. Mr Osman had no links to any gang – and police said he was an innocent bystander. NSW Police Acting Commissioner Peter Thurtell described the latest shooting as 'beyond comprehension' and promised every available resource would be thrown at catching those responsible.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Sky News AU
Auburn kebab shop shooting: Police probe link between two car fires in Western Sydney and underworld shooting
An investigation is underway into two suspicious car fires in Western Sydney following a gangland shooting at a kebab shop which left three people injured, including a female worker. 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.
