Suprovat Sydney report: An unknown shooter opened fire on Ahmed Al Azzam, 25, who was sitting in a car on Mayvic Street in Greenacre, shortly after 2.15am on Sunday 23^rd July 2023

Less than 50 metres up the road, young couple Kaashif Richards, 22, and Achiraya Jantharat, 19, were sitting in another parked car that was struck by the gunfire.

Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty called it a “brazen, tragic shooting of three people”.

“We can’t find any links to organised crime conflict or criminal activity,” he said. “The motives are still unknown.”

It remains unclear why all three were visiting the industrial street in the middle of the night.

Paramedics treated Al Azzam, Richards and Jantharat at the scene before they were rushed to hospital. Al Azzam was shot in the head, while Richards was shot in the neck. Azzam was shot multiple times. His death is the latest in a month-long spree of shootings believed to be related to gang activity, with five shootings this week.

The investigation has now been taken over by detectives from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad under Strike Force Alpina, part of the newly former Taskforce Magnus investigating the spate of shootings.

Both remain in a critical condition, with Al Azzam fighting for his life. Jantharat was shot in the back and is in a stable condition.

A high-profile criminal defence lawyer has been shot outside a home in Sydney in what police believe is a targeted attack.

Mahmoud Abbas, 31, was outside his home and about to get into his car when he was approached by an unknown person and shot, Det Superintendent Adam Johnson said.

“It is a brazen, clearly targeted shooting,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday.

“The motive and the reasoning behind it at this stage is too early to speculate.”

Emergency services were called to a home on Narelle Crescent in the south-west Sydney suburb of Greenacre at about 10.25am on Wednesday after reports of shots being fired.

They found Abbas still conscious but suffering gunshot wounds. “We now have one, if not more offenders on the run,” Johnson said. Separately, three people were taken to hospital after a shooting in Greenacre on Sunday. Police said they believed it was a “targeted attack”.

Abbas Jacobs Lawyers, where Mahmoud Abbas is a practising criminal lawyer. Abbas has represented several high-profile clients, including members of an alleged Islamic State-inspired terror cell charged with plotting to destroy Sydney landmarks and the controversial former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer. He has also represented Sydney underworld figures, including handyman Ahmed Jaghbir in his trial over being an accessory to the murder of Kemel Barakat.

100 of Detectives and Police officers are on the street to resolve this continued shooting. Police alleged result of Underworld conflict those criminal acts took place.