Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Second bikie shot in gang war in Sydney - Brisbane Times


AAP


Warring factions in the Comanchero bikie gang may be responsible for two shootings within three days that have left one of their members dead and the other clinging to life.


Police urged calm on Tuesday, saying the community shouldn't fear "open-gang warfare" in the streets of Sydney.


The call came after a 28-year-old man known to police was shot four times in the stomach about 5am (AEDT) in a car park at Rhodes, in the city's northwest.


The wounded man, who police confirmed was a Comanchero member, left a trail of blood as he stumbled 500 metres past Rhodes train station and a childcare centre, calling for help before collapsing in front of a construction site in Rider Boulevard.


"I heard a guy calling out for help," Ashlea Nicholson from an adjacent unit block told reporters.


"Just 'help', over and over. At least 10 times."


A construction worker at the building site said blood was pouring from the man's wounds.


"There was a man on the ground and (he was) screaming," the man, who asked not be named, told AAP.


"Blood was pouring out and he was screaming."


He understood at least one bikie member lived in the unit block next to where the shooting occurred.


Police said the wounded man was alert and talking on his way to surgery at Westmead Hospital, where doctors expected him to survive.


As residents were leaving the area for work, hundreds were arriving in Rhodes to start their work day at the local business centre.


A Comanchero member also working at the construction site did not witness the shooting, but said bikie members congregated in all parts of Sydney.


"I've been a member of the Comancheros for 31 years," the man told AAP.


"They're not bikies," he said about the current members, "They're gangs."


The acting head of the Organised Crime Squad, Arthur Katsogiannis, said police didn't believe a rival club was responsible.


"We believe ... that it is a contained conflict within the Comanchero," acting Detective Chief Superintendent Katsogiannis told reporters in Sydney.


"The important thing for us is to reassure the community that we're not looking at open gang warfare."


On Monday, Comanchero member Faalau Pisu, 23, was shot in the head outside a wedding reception in Canley vale, in Sydney's southwest.


He died hours later in hospital but another Comanchero and an associate of the gang who were also wounded survived the attack.


Police had attended the wedding earlier in the evening as a precaution but left before the shooting, saying the scene seemed peaceful.


In October, Brothers For Life gang member Yehya Amoud, 27 was shot dead in a street in Greenacre but his wounded associate Bassam Hijazi survived.


In August, Roy Yaghi and Jamie Grover, both known to police, were shot dead as they sat in a car at nearby South Wentworthville.


On Wednesday, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell expressed his "frustration about this violence and these shootings".


Opposition Leader John Robertson said the latest shootings brought the total in Sydney to 124 so far this year, by the opposition's count.



No comments:

Post a Comment