The first picture of gangland hit victim Salim Hamze has been revealed after the teenager was gunned down alongside his father in Sydney’s west on Wednesday.
Salim Hamze, 18, and his father Toufik, 64, were found critically injured in the front seat of a red Nissan Navara ute on Osgood St, Guildford shortly before 9am on Wednesday.
Salim suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene.
Toufik was shot in the head and died in hospital within the hour despite the frantic attempts of paramedics and nurses to save him.
Salim Hamze, 18, (pictured) and his father Toufik, 64, were found critically injured in the front seat of a red Nissan Navara ute on Osgood St, Guildford shortly before 9am on Wednesday
Daily Mail Australia understands Salim and his father were leaving home to go to work when they were assassinated.
Police are on the hunt for two offenders believed to be involved.
Officers are also investigating a burnt out Lexus SUV found 1.8km away in Murdock Lane a short time after the shooting – a getaway car for the killers.
There were frantic scenes near the site of the execution on Wednesday afternoon as police pulled over residents driving just a block away from the shooting (pictured)
Police forced a Toyota Hilux to pull over and give his phone to officers while officers pored over his vehicle with gloves and torches about 4pm (pictured)
There were frantic scenes near the site of the execution on Wednesday afternoon as police pulled over residents driving just a block away from the shooting.
Police forced a Toyota Hilux to pull over and give his phone to officers while officers pored over his vehicle with gloves and torches about 4pm – from the engine to the undercarriage of the car.
His phone was eventually returned and he drove away.
Police pulled over at least two more drivers, but both were released.
Neighbours fear a terrible mistake after revealing how Hamzes and Alameddines lived in peace as neighbours
It was the quiet suburban street where Hamzes and Alameddines lived literally side by side – until the peace was shattered by a deadly salvo of shots on Wednesday morning.
Elsewhere in the Sydney’s west, the two family names are synonymous with the bloody gangland battle which has seen brutal tit for tat gun battles and executions.
On Guildford’s Osgood Street however, it was a different story.
Father Toufik Hamze, 64, is believed to have lived alone in his humble rented home at number 17 after son Salim, 18, moved out to live in his own home in Auburn.
Just across the road however, lived the Alameddines, at their palatial home at number 18.
Despite the bitter bloody feud played out by their namesakes, on Osgood Street, neighbours say both families got on well without any hint of trouble.
Until Wednesday.
Around 8.30am, Salim and Toufik were gunned down as the son picked up his father in their battered old ute to go to to work.
Salim died in the hail of bullets at the scene, his body left in the morning sun, partially hidden under a blue sheet by medics and detectives.
His father was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but medics couldn’t save him.
Salim Hamze and his father Toufik were found slumped in a red ute (pictured) following reports of a shooting in Guildford on Wednesday morning
Osgood St (pictured) in Guildford has been cordoned off as a high presence of police investigate the scene of the shooting
A burnt out Lexus – believed to have been used as the assassins’ getaway vehicle – was found less than 2km from the scene shortly after the double execution.
The deaths were instantly linked to the long-running gang battle between the rival crime families – but neighbours fear there has been a terrible mistake.
‘Salim and Toufik are not related to the gangster Hamzes,’ said one neighbour. ‘I’m from Lebanon myself so I know these things.
‘They are not from the same family, same village, same part of Lebanon or even the same religion. They had nothing to do with the other Hamzes.
A burnt out Lexus SUV (pictured) was found 1.8km away in Murdock Lane a short time after the shooting
‘There was never any trouble between the Hamzes and Alameddines on Osgood Street.
‘They got on well – there no hint of any trouble.’
He added: ‘I think someone has made a terrible mistake. I think there’s been a misunderstanding.
‘They’ve been too good together, I’ve never seen them fight at all.’
Jailed Brothers 4 Life gangland boss Bassam Hamzy confirmed to Daily Mail Australia from his Supermax high security jail cell that the dead men were no relation to him.
Hamzy is serving a 40 year jail term over murder and gang-related offences, after first being locked up in 1998 over the killing of a Sydney teenager.
Mr Hamzy’s cousin Bilan Hamze was gunned down outside a Japanese restaurant in Sydney’s CBD in June in the latest escalation of the running battle.
Another former resident stressed the Alameddines on Osgood Street were good neighbours.
‘They have a tree-lopping business,’ said one. ‘They are good people, a nice family.’
The shooting is understood to be the latest escalation in the increasingly bloody Sydney underworld feud between the Alameddine and Hamze families.
Pictured are officers lifting police tape as a coroner’s van arrives at the scene of the shooting on Wednesday afternoon
Dozens of police have arrived at the scene in Guildford to investigate the latest escalation in the long-running underworld feud between Alameddine and Hamze families
Osgood Street in Guildford has been cordoned off as specialist and forensic officers examine the crime scene
Salim Hamze, 18, and his father Toufik, 64 were shot while leaving for work. Pictured are police being briefed at the scene
A coroner’s van approaches police tape at the scene of the deadly shooting in Guildford on Wednesday afternoon
Police have confirmed Salim Hamze was ‘well known’ to them and on bail for firearms offences after being arrested by the State Crime Command on September 10.
‘He was known to us as a person sometimes under threat and known to be involved in criminal organisations.’ Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett said.
Police are unaware of any criminal involvement of the slain father.
He described Wednesday’s double murder as an appalling act of violence on the streets of Sydney.
‘It’s an atrocious crime that shouldn’t have taken place,’ Superintendent Bennett said.
‘It’s another appalling crime in a long list of gangland style shootings that have taken place in south-west Sydney.
‘The State Crime Command and local police are handing glove trying to stop to these crimes before they happen.’
It remains unclear how Salim and his father are related to the rest of Hamze family.
Police admitted they’re concerned about reprisal attacks.
‘We’re worried about reprisals, we’re worried about family feud and we’re also worried about drug and kidnapping turf wars, and they’re going on in south-west Sydney all the time,’ Superintendent Bennett said.
Police appealed for information for a grey or dark coloured Ford Mustang seen leaving Murdock Lane not long after the Lexus SUV was set on fire.
Sources close to the Hamze clan told Daily Mail Australia family members held an urgent Zoom meeting with a criminal defence lawyer shortly in the wake of the slaying.
Osgood Street has been cordoned off with a heavy presence of police, who spent the morning examining the crime scene and going door to door to interview shocked neighbours.
A neighbour told Daily Mail Australia they heard the ‘bang! bang! bang!’ of bullets early this morning. ‘It sounded like an automatic weapon,’ they said.
There has been a spate of public shootings in the area this year. One of them, in March, was just 800m up the road.
The latest shooting has neighbours fearing the area is unsafe. ‘It’s scary. I heard police coming and helicopters over the top,’ local Ali Ghazi told the ABC. ‘Shocking. It’s scary. It’s not safe.’
‘We live in Merrylands but we were driving through this morning at about 9.30 and we saw the police everywhere,’ these women (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia
A burnt out Lexus SUV (pictured) found 1.8km away in Murdock Lane shortly afterwards has since been towed away
Guildford residents Angela Virzi and Talia , 16 (pictured) recalled the shock of seeing a Lexus SUV on fire in their street
Residents who live near the burning car recalled their shock of looking out the window and seeing a Lexus SUV on fire.
Angela Virzi and her daughter have lived in the street for 22 years.
‘No one knows this street except locals – they all go to the end of the street to turn around, but no one knows the lane way is behind there there. Whoever did it knew,’ Ms Virzi told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It really p***** me off that these people are bringing the neighbourhood down. It’s not a bad area.’
Her daughter Talia, 16 added: ‘We were so shocked. We heard this scream, like someone saying ‘oh my god’ and a horn and popping coming from the car’
Another resident told the Daily Telegraph: ‘I was just sleeping and I woke up to the sound of a car horn, like a really long horn that went on for 30 seconds or so.
‘I got p****** off because it was so loud they woke me up, so I looked out the window and there was just fire and black smoke.
‘Neighbours were screaming and standing out on the road, then we heard multiple bangs which must have been something in the car exploding.’
The slain pair are among four members of the extended Hamze family to be shot dead in the last year.
Police were called to the Guildford street off Woodville Road shortly before 9am following reports of a shooting.
Police interview neighbours in the Guildford street following the assassinations of Salim Hamze and his father Toufik
A neighbour examines the horrifying crime scene in Guildford from behind police tape
There has been a spate of public shootings in the Guildford area this year. Pictured are police at the scene on Wednesday
A heavy presence of police remains in Osgood Street following a double assassination in broad daylight
Mejid Hamzy (left), the brother of jailed Brothers for Life gang founder Bassam (right) was gunned down outside his home at Condell Park in October last year
Bilal Hamzy, the cousin of Bassam, was executed in a drive-by shooting in Sydney’s CBD in June (pictured above sequence of events)
About a hundred men gathered at Rookwood necropolis to bury Bilal Hamze on June 23
Dozens of male mourners carried Bilal Hamze’s green coffin – emblazoned with Arabic writing – into the mosque at his funeral in June.
A burnt out car found after Bilal Hamze was executed in Sydney earlier this year
In June, the crime boss cousin of Brothers for Life gangster Bassam Hamzy was executed in a drive-by shooting after leaving Sydney’s ritzy Kid Kyoto Japanese restaurant.
Underworld figure Bilal Hamze, 34, had a bounty on his head when he was shot twice in the stomach and once in the shoulder in front of shocked onlookers.
Bilal was hiding out in the city amid underworld conflict with members of the rival Alameddine clan.
His public assassination came after his own mother Maha Hamze’s home in Auburn was the target of a drive-by shooting in February.
No one inside was injured but a nurse at a nearby hospital was hurt when a stray bullet destroyed a window she was standing near.
In October last year, Mejid Hamzy – the younger brother of Bassam, was gunned down in broad daylight outside his Condell Park home.
The shooting (scene pictured) is understood to be the latest escalation in the long-running Sydney underworld feud between the Alameddine and Hamze families
Two brothers allegedly linked to the Alameddine family have been arrested over the fatal shooting of Mejid, but police believe the gunmen are still at large.
In September, police released CCTV footage of two hooded men fleeing from the scene moments after Mejid was shot dead as they continue to hunt for the killers.
The CCTV captured the face and distinct blond hair of one the men briefly exposed after his hoodie fell off while fleeing the scene through the reserve before getting into two luxury cars.
Almost two months later, Shady Kanj, 22, was struck by a bullet while a passenger in a car driving on Boundary Rd, Chester Hill in western Sydney on August 6.
Kanj was an associate of both the Hamzy and Alameddine gangs,
A week later, a suspected murder attempt against another member of the Hamze clan was foiled following a police traffic stop in Sydney’s north.
Police believe gangland rivals had been planning to carry out an attack on Ibrahem Hamze when a stolen Mercedes was spotted on Walker Street on August 14.
The driver allegedly refused to stop the vehicle for officers before speeding off and running through a red light.
But the car suffered a flat tyre forcing the driver and another passenger to abandon the vehicle on Miller Street at Cammeray.
Anyone with information about Wednesday morning’s shooting is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
Police are still hunting for the assassins who shot dead Mejid Hamzy. They released CCTV footage (above) in September in a bid to identify the gunmen
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