Four people, including a 16-year-old boy, have been extradited interstate after allegedly being linked to a gun used in the fatal shooting of a university student.
Marco Tapia, 23, died in his bed as the unintended target of a break-in shooting in Sydney ’s southwest on September 1.
Detective Acting Superintendent Brad Abdy said a firearm found in the family home where Tapia was killed had been linked to the group, who travelled from Melbourne to Sydney on August 30.
Police allege the group, linked to the Alameddine crime family, carried out criminal contracts for two separate shootings in Hurstville and Turrella while in the state.
The same firearm was used at all three shootings, Det Supt Abdy told reporters on Friday.
Members of the group are accused of leaving a warning shot in the wall of a Hurstville house then firing at a car outside a Turrella property.
Four people in Melbourne were arrested on Wednesday, including a 22-year-old man in Epping, while a 23-year-old man, 26-year-old woman and 16-year-old boy were all arrested in Donnybrook.
The group appeared before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where extradition to NSW was applied for and granted.
They were immediately extradited and arrived across the border at Albury on Friday afternoon.
“Criminals can’t come interstate, commit offences, run away and hide back in their states and think that they’re going to avoid detection and prosecution for their crimes,” Det Supt Abdy said.
“It’s equally as important that people who are overseas tasking criminals in Australia to commit these types of offences can’t use our borders as a means of protection from prosecution and identification.”
The shooting in Hurstville unfolded about 2.30am on August 31 and involved three unknown men forcing entry into a home, before a gun was fired into a wall.
There was no one home, but they’re alleged to have fired a warning shot into a wall and sent the occupant a text message: “We were in your house to kill you if you were there, but God gave you life today. I promise you, we are going to make sure your kids grow up with no father.”
Police said the men left the scene shortly after in a black sedan.
About 30 minutes later, shots were fired into a grey sedan parked on the road in Turrella.
“That matter’s being investigated by the homicide squad. We will work with them and our evidence sharing to establish the link,” Det Supt Abdy said.
“These people are obviously significant persons of interest.”
Detectives quickly identified four people who had allegedly travelled from Victoria to carry out the criminal contracts.
Search warrants were executed at short-stay accommodation in Lurnea and Campbelltown on September 9, with police believing the group had stayed at the locations between August 30 and September 1.
Police say the group briefly left the property in the early hours of September 1 and returned at 4am.
It was at 3am that university student Marco Tapia was shot dead in his bed after four people entered his family home at Glen Alpine.
Police say the 23-year-old had no criminal history and was the accidental victim of a hit job.
“That investigation is extremely complex and it’s very important that all the evidence is examined before people are charged, obviously with a very serious offence of murder,” Abdy said.
Abdy said the group left the Campbelltown rental early on September 1 and drove back to Melbourne.
“It appeared they left in a rush,” he said.
Officers have travelled with all four to Albury Police Station, where they’re expected to be charged.
The four have not been arrested or charged in relation to Tapia’s murder.
“They’re not known in New South Wales,” said Abdy.
Two boys, 14 and 16, were arrested and charged on Wednesday over their alleged roles in the murder and will remain behind bars until they next front a children’s court on November 13.
The boys are not alleged to have entered Tapia’s family home in Glen Alpine. For that murder, three suspected offenders remain at large.