Homicide detective Danny Doherty called the double murder in Panania “unprecedented” and said police were right now targeting known underworld families to try and stop what may be an inevitable bloody escalation of gun violence.
Police believe the Saturday night shooter had targeted 48-year-old mother Lametta Fadlallah, who was sitting in a four-wheel drive with Amy Al-Hazzouri, 39, when the vehicle was sprayed with bullets.
The death of Al-Hazzouri was described by police as tragic collateral damage, and Fadlallah is believed to have had a relationship with a crime world figure.
Doherty said “some type of retribution” was now the fear.
“We’ve just seen the rulebook completely ignored and thrown out the window.”
He said police were filtering “a lot of information” and following up lines of inquiry.
“We’ll continue to work on this and hopefully get some answers for the families of both the women that were shot down,” he said.
“Any person that may be the usual suspect, for example, or the family groups that are part of these networks will be targeted … to make sure that there isn’t any retribution and there’s no repercussions,” he said.
Fadlallah and Al-Hazzouri were at the Panania house with friends before a night out, and were shot after they had left the Hendy Avenue residence.
A 20-year-old man and 16-year-old girl were also in the four-wheel drive at the time of the shooting.
“(They) are very lucky that they weren’t killed as well,” Doherty said.
Former NSW detective Peter Moroney told Today “the manner, the calculation and the brutality” of the murders was very worrying and highlighted the planning and preparation that went into the killings.
“If you unpack what actually happened, for someone to know where she was, they obviously would have had to survey her for a point of time,” he said.
“They have sat and waited for her to sit within that vehicle before they came and then opened fire at close range.”
After watching footage recorded of the shooting, the former detective said he had counted 16 to 17 shots fired very quickly.
“That’s someone with clear intent to certainly leave those people deceased.
“Someone clearly wanted (Fadlallah) dead. They shot her in a manner in which they did. They didn’t care who was with her.”
He said that “in most simple Aussie terms” he would describe the shooter as “an absolute grub”.
Moroney said a risk of future attacks could be expected if the shooting was connected to current gang warfare in Sydney.
“What comes next? Sit down and hold on,” he said.
“It’s not known if it’s linked to the current stream of violence we have at the moment. If it is, the retaliation will come thick and it will come fast.”
