A teenager has been charged after a 11-year-old boy was shot in the face and neck inside a northwest Sydney apartment.
Emergency services rushed to the Moda apartment complex on Fairway Dr in Norwest about 5pm on Monday following reports of a shooting.
Police found the boy with a gunshot wound to his face and neck before he was rushed to hospital in a critical condition, accompanied by his mother.
“She is as distressed, as any parent would be, about what she is dealing with at the moment,” Superintendent Naomi Moore said.
The boy remained in a critical condition on Tuesday, and police believe he was struck by a single bullet that may still be lodged in his body.
Neither the boy nor his mother has been able to speak to police about what happened.
Police said four 18-year-old men and a 44-year-old woman were at the apartment complex when officers arrived, while several other people had already left.
Moore said everyone at the apartment had been invited there, but some were not cooperating with investigators.
Three of the 18-year-old men, none of whom are related to the boy, were arrested.
Two were later released pending further inquiries, while the third — Isaac Bechara — was charged with concealing a serious indictable offence.
Moore said the serious indictable offence allegedly being concealed was shooting with intent to murder the child.
Bechara was refused bail to appear before Blacktown Local Court on Tuesday.
He did not appear via video link from custody and did not apply for bail, which was formally refused.
He will remain behind bars and is due to appear before Parramatta Local Court on October 1.
Moore said officers were already aware of the premises and had previously engaged with its occupants.
Investigators are also trying to identify and speak with people who left the apartment before police arrived, some of whom Moore said had connections to organised crime.
She said police were keeping an open mind about the circumstances surrounding the shooting and did not rule out further charges, including against the two men who were released.
“Just because they’ve been released, that doesn’t mean that’s the end of the inquiries,” she said.
“I’m not ruling out further potential lines of inquiry or charges.”