A man with links to the Alameddine crime gang shot in the head during a drive-by shooting has died in hospital.
NSW Police were called to Church Street beneath the M4 overpass at Granville in western Sydney shortly after 5pm on Sunday after a gunman opened fire on a white Toyota HiLux ute occupied by four men waiting at the traffic lights.
Alameddine associate Dawood Zakaria, 32, was shot in the head while solicitor Sylvan Singh, 25, was struck in the arm and leg.
Police revealed on Monday that Zakaria had undergone surgery in Westmead Hospital and was on life support and not expected to survive the second attempt on his life.
He has since died in hospital.
Singh is understood to have been an innocent victim caught up in the latest episode of Sydney’s gangland war. He remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Detectives believe Samimjan Azari, 26, was the intended target of the shooting.
The alleged Alameddine crime gang leader was in the backseat of a Toyota HiLux with his ‘bodyguard’ Levi Vitukawalu, 28, at the time. Both were uninjured.
Alameddine associate Dawood Zakaria (pictured) has died after being shot in the head
Dawood Zakaria (pictured) wasn’t expected to survive Sunday night’s shooting
Police said Sunday’s incident was the third shooting in a ‘tit for tat’ internal war within the powerful Alameddine crime clan.
It’s understood the gunmen were following the HiLux from a police station, where Azari had just reported for bail over an alleged armed robbery.
Photos showed Azari sitting on a footpath near the scene of the shooting on Sunday night while surrounded by police officers on Sunday.
Both his hands were covered with evidence bags.
Police allegedly found a firearm inside the HiLux and later charged both Azari and Vitukawalu with possession of an unauthorised pistol and acquiring pistol subject to firearms prohibition order.
The pair appeared in Parramatta Local Court on Monday, where police prosecutor Kye Jiang opposed bail for Azari amid fears his ‘senior role’ in the Alameddine gang could cause further bloodshed.
The court also heard that Sunday’s shooting was the second attempt on the lives of Azari and Zakaria within months.
Both had previously survived another targeted shooting earlier this year at Brighton-Le-Sands in Sydney’s south.
The gunmen are believed to have followed the HiLux from a police station
It’s understood alleged high-ranking Alameddine crime gang member Samimjan Azari (pictured at the scene with police) was the intended target of the shooting
As Taskforce Falcon was announced, officers carried out Firearm Prohibition Order compliance checks in two western Sydney suburbs
Police launched Taskforce Falcon on Tuesday in response to violent crime in the Sydney metropolitan area, including Sunday’s shooting.
This included investigations into 13 incidents of public place shootings, arson attacks and kidnappings, dating back to December 2024.
NSW Police and Counter-terrorism Minister Yasmin Catley told reporters that officers will find ‘every single on of these crooks’.
‘We will not tolerate these lawless thugs getting out there with their vendettas against each other and putting in danger innocent victims in our community.
‘If you intend to become a part of these organised gangs, you are either going to end up in a small cell for the rest of your life, or indeed, at the morgue.’
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson also warned that anyone tied to the illegal activity, whatever the scale of their involvement, will be targeted.
‘We consider those periphery players in the commission of those jobs as equally responsible as those who pull the triggers,’ he said.
Footage released on Tuesday, shows officers carrying out proactive Firearm Prohibition Order compliance checks in Greystanes and Merrylands, western Sydney, under the remit of Taskforce Falcon.
