While Saturday’s shooting was connected to organised crime groups involved in the tobacco wars,police were still to determine the exact motive for the attack,he said.
“There’s a number of disputes that are occurring within these organised crime groups. Some of them relate to illicit tobacco,some of them can relate to drugs ... and some can be other financial,personal disputes.”
Investigators are also probing whether adrive-by shooting at a home in Excelsior Heights,Craigieburn,linked to Issa was connected to Saturday’s shooting. A couple in their 50s sleeping inside the home were lucky to escape injury during the September 14 attack,which caused extensive damage to the facade of the property.
O’Halloran said he was thankful no one else was injured in Saturday’s fatal attack.
“It would have been incredibly frightening for people in the car park at that time to witness,” he said. “Incidents such as this and the indiscriminate use of firearms is completely unacceptable,particularly in public areas at any time.”
He said police had rolled out “mitigation measures” to prevent retaliation attacks.
The two victims were sitting in their parked car at the shopping centre when gunshots were fired through the passenger side and rear windows.
While Issa was killed,a 28-year-old man from Hadfield was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital with serious injuries and remained in a stable condition on Sunday.
Police said one of the getaway cars was a black Range Rover Sport,which was later found torched in Westmeadows,about 12 kilometres south of the shooting scene.
One of the gunmen is believed to have suffered burns when the Range Rover was set on fire.
O’Halloran said the offenders were then seen crossing a footbridge before getting into a blue Toyota Corolla,which was found burnt out on the banks of Merri Creek near Hamersley Court,Reservoir,just after 5.30pm on Saturday. The group then piled into a third getaway vehicle and fled.
O’Halloran said witnesses and dashcam footage would be vital to the investigation and urged anyone with information to contact police.
Hours after the offenders fled,a distressed group of people huddled together at the crime scene until after dark on Saturday. Some had to be restrained at times as they clashed with police while trying to get closer to the bullet-riddled car and the sheet covering a figure on the ground beside it.
People could be heard crying as detectives and forensic officers combed the scene nearby.
One witness,who did not want to be identified,said they saw several men wearing balaclavas jump out of a car before gunshots rang out on Saturday.
“[The gunshots] stopped and they sped off. I had to swerve so my car didn’t get hit,” they said.
The witness said they saw blood on the neck of the seriously injured victim.
The shooting was the latest in a series of targeted killings carried out in public in Melbourne in recent months.
Underworld figure Gavin “Capable” Prestonwas shot dead at a cafe in Keilor in a daylight hit last month. Abbas Jr “AJ” Maghnie,the son of late underworld enforcer Nabil Maghnie,was seriously injured in the shooting,which sparked fears of a new gangland war.
Preston,one of Melbourne’smost violent gangland figures,had long been waging bloody feuds with other underworld identities. A contract was taken out on his life afterhis release from prison this year as his many enemies doubted his claims he would leave old rivalries behind.
Preston had also tried to muscle in on the lucrative extortion racket being waged against Melbourne’s tobacco retailers that led to more than a dozen firebombings since rival organised crime gangs began fighting over the trade earlier this year.
O’Halloran said the Preston killing and Issa’s shooting death seemed to be separate incidents. When asked about the investigation into Preston’s death,he said:“I’m confident we’ll bring the person or people responsible to justice sooner rather than later.”
In August,police also began to probe whether the tobacco feud could be connected to the murder ofunderworld figure Mohammed “Afghan Ali” Akbar Keshtiar,who was gunned down near Chapel Street while walking home from the gym.
However,Keshtiar hada long,violent history of other underworld disputes and had beenan assassination target before.
Police Superintendent Jason Kelly said a significant investigation into the illegal tobacco trade had been under way for six months and 13 people had so far been arrested.
The new taskforce includes officers from Victoria,as well as Australian Border Force,the Tax Office and Australian Federal Police. Kelly said they were aware of “a number of major players” involved in the crime syndicates.
The Craigieburn shooting came just hours after another tobacco shop was apparently firebombed in Melbourne’s south-east.
The back of the shop in Bentleigh was set alight about 1.30am on Saturday,days after police CCTV cameras were set up outside the shopfront and weeks after it was first targeted in September.
Police confirmed they were investigating the Bentleigh fire’s connection to the tobacco wars.
Anyone who witnessed Saturday’s shooting or has dashcam vision can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report atwww.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
With Sherryn Groch
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