The 33-year-old man shot dead has been identified as mixed martial arts fighter Suman Mokhtarian.
At about 6pm yesterday, neighbours called emergency services to Annaluke Street in Riverstone, where they found Mokhtarian with gunshot wounds to his upper torso.
It was alleged that he was killed while walking the street yesterday evening, before the alleged shooters fled in a red Audi.
He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
The sound of multiple gunshots can be heard in an audio released following the attack.
“I called the police straight away, run over and checked to see if he was alive, he clearly wasn’t,” a witness said.
“I was terrified, like my little girl was right out near the end of my driveway when it happened.”
9News understands Mokhtarian had been told by police his life was in danger, and that he had survived an assassination attempt last year outside his Wentworthville gym that he co-owned with his brother.
Earlier this year, police had cancelled a mixed martial arts event in western Sydney on the basis that there was a risk Mokhtarian would be attacked.
Superintendent Jason Joyce said yesterday investigations continued at the site and two other crime scenes where burnt-out vehicles were found soon after the shooting.
“It’s very brazen, and it’s a shame that this is happening in our community,” he told the media at Riverstone police station last night.
“You’d want to think that in a residential area like that, people could wander the streets at that time of night and be safe, but we do believe it’s a targeted attack.”
Neighbours told police they saw a red Audi speeding away from the scene with one person inside after firing on the man from within the vehicle.
About 15 minutes later, emergency services were called to a car fire nearby on Riverstone Road, near Clarke Street.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but the Audi was destroyed.
A white van found alight shortly after on Mathis Street in Riverstone was also destroyed.
“There is some indication that they were driving around that area earlier in the evening, but we’re yet to confirm that, and obviously we’ll make inquiries in relation to what CCTV footage we can find from residents in that area,” Joyce said, when asked whether the van had been seen before the shooting.
He said there was nothing at this stage to indicate tonight’s shooting was linked to the interception of an alleged “kill squad” on the way to a daycare centre in Revesby on Tuesday but police would be “following all forms of inquiries”.
After the fourth apparently gangland-linked shooting in the past month, Joyce sought to reassure residents police were putting “a lot of resources” into tackling the issue and called for people to report anything suspicious.
“My heart goes out to the family of this victim and certainly any of the people that witnessed it,” he said.
“It would have been a horrific thing to witness, and it’s certainly not something we tolerate in the community and certainly NSW Police are putting a lot of effort into trying to target these sorts of offences.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
