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One dead in shooting of Comanchero bikie honcho and brother in Western Sydney gym

The brothers were shot as they left a Sydney gym

Comanchero bikie heavyweight Tarek Zahed has reportedly survived a public shooting, but his brother Omar has died after the pair were gunned down in western Sydney on Tuesday night.

In an escalation of Sydney’s gangland war, the men were hit with a hail of bullets in the foyer of the Bodyfit Gym on Paramatta Road, Auburn, in front of witnesses.

Police said both men had bullet wounds “all over their bodies” and Tarek, a high-ranking member of the underworld gang, was also shot in the head.

“On our arrival we found two male patients … with multiple gunshot wounds to multiple regions of their bodies,” NSW Ambulance Inspector Kevin McSweeney said.

“They were both found to be in extremely critical condition.

“At the scene we stabilised the patients as best we could.”

“When we arrived on scene both patients had suffered significant blood loss and one of them had gone into traumatic cardiac arrest,” he said.

The ABC reports Omar, believed to be in his 20s, was shot multiple times in the arms, stomach and legs before going into cardiac arrest and could not be saved.

“Paramedics did everything they could but despite best efforts, he died at the scene,” Inspector McSweeney said.

His older brother Tarek, 41, was shot all over his body, including the head.

“The second patient had been hit with up to 10 bullets and incredibly, was still conscious and breathing when we transported him to hospital,” said the Inspector.

“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.”

NSW Ambulance said in a statement that five paramedic road crews and two specialist medical teams responded to the scene.

A crime scene has been established and the State Crime Command’s Raptor and Criminal Groups Squads are investigating.

The latest shootings follow the killing of underworld crime figure Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad, who was gunned down late last month.

Ahmad was shot dead after leaving an associate’s home at Greenacre, in Sydney’s south-west, in what Homicide Squad Commander Danny Doherty described as a brazen and callous murder.

State Crime Command Raptor Squad police performed CPR on Ahmad before the 39-year-old, who had a $1 million bounty on his head, died.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the latest shooting could have been retaliation for Ahmad’s shooting.

“We can’t rule it out. 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,” she told Sydney radio 2GB on Wednesday.

She promised to allocate 30 more officers to Strike Force Raptor, which deals with Outlaw Motorcycle Gang criminal activity.

“Enough is enough,” she said.

“The community in 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,” Commisioner Webb said.

“What else can you do?

“You try to warn them but they just live their lives like they are larger than life.”

Police are investigating if burnt cars found in nearby suburbs were linked to the shooting.

NSW Labor has renewed its calls for Premier Dominic Perrottet to take action on gang violence in western Sydney.

Last week, Investigations and Counter Terrorism Deputy Commissioner David Hudson told a parliamenary hearing there had been 11 Sydney gang-related homicides sparked by rivalries in the criminal underworld.

Since June 2020, there have been more than 40 major known violent incidents between gangs in NSW.

-with AAP

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