Shots fired in Sydney suburbs, cars set alight

3 weeks ago 6

Police are probing links between two attacks on homes in neighbouring Sydney suburbs in which shots were fired and cars set alight just after midnight on Thursday.

The shootings, which police believe took place within minutes of each other, occurred in Cabramatta and Green Valley. Shots were fired at one house and outside another, both dwellings being occupied at the time of the attacks, while vehicles at the addresses were torched. Those behind the incidents are still at large.

A car was set ablaze in Cabramatta on Thursday morning.

Emergency services were called to Wendy Close, Cabramatta, at 12.45am on Thursday, about 15 minutes before receiving reports of loud bangs at Green Valley believed to be gunfire.

Four people were inside the Cabramatta house when five gun shots were fired at the address and a white Toyota station wagon was set alight. The flames jumped onto the front porch, forcing firefighters to extinguish the blaze before it could tear through the house.

Two bullets hit the front of the house and the car was destroyed. A 57-year-old female was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Trent King said none of the occupants were known to police, and they were “co-operating fully” with the investigation.

The home in Cabramatta targeted in the shooting.

CCTV footage showed seven shots fired into the air outside the home at North Liverpool Road, Green Valley, in what King suggested was done to send a “warning” to the occupants.

There were two people inside the house at the time of the shooting, neither of whom were known to police, but another occupant who wasn’t home was familiar to police. Officers have attended the home on previous occasions, though not in relation to gang or other criminal activity.

A Toyota Hilux ute was set alight before being extinguished by one of the occupants. No other property damage or injuries were recorded.

King said it was “very difficult to tell” if the targeted incidents were perpetrated by the same assailants, but said police were investigating potential links given the similar nature of the attacks.

A ute was set alight and shots were fired outside a Green Valley address.

“They are quite close together, in terms of both time and location,” King said. “The information we have is that the type of vehicle is similar, the nature of the incident is very similar, as well as the type of firearm.”

Police arrived at the Green Valley address six hours after the emergency call was made, prompting an internal investigation into the Liverpool City Police Area Command’s response to the incident, which King called “very concerning”.

There has been a string of violent incidents across Sydney in the past week, including a foiled alleged murder plot outside a daycare centre and the “brazen” daylight attack that took the life of former UFC fighter Suman Mokhtarian.

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