Double fatal shooting reveals underbelly

31 Aug 2012, 6:13 pm   -   Source: AAP
A gunman is on the loose after shooting dead two men sitting in a parked ute in Sydney's west. (AAP)

A gunman is on the loose after shooting dead two men sitting in a parked ute in Sydney's west. (AAP)

A roadside execution of two men has been linked to the underworld in Sydney's west.

Two men fatally shot in a suburban ambush in Sydney street are suspected of having underworld drug connections, with one of them believed to be related to a crooked cop.

Roy Yaghi and Jamie Grover were known to police and became the targets of a gunman who approached them in Boronia Street, South Wentworthville, just before 9.10pm (AEST) on Thursday.

They were sitting in a white Toyota Hilux when their attacker opened fire.

Mr Yaghi, 32, drove the vehicle about 150m before crashing into another car in the front yard of a nearby property

Mr Grover, 26, made a desperate call to his mother after he stumbled out of the vehicle, fatally wounded, and then handed the phone to a neighbour who came to his assistance.

Media reports said Mr Yaghi was the brother of former detective senior constable Mohomed Yaghi, who received a 10-year sentence in 2000 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine.

Roy Yaghi lived in South Wentworthville and was involved in at least one other shooting in the past two years.

Police confirmed reports from neighbours that his home had been raided a few months earlier.

It is understood Mr Yaghi moved residences, on average, about every six months and was estranged from his family.

Both victims were taken to Westmead Hospital, where Mr Yaghi's elderly father remains. His mother is understood to be dead.

Police said there was reason to believe the shooting was connected to some other crime.

"On the face of it, with this sort of hit, there is a strong possibility it is connected to some other crime," NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas told reporters on Friday.

At least a dozen family members gathered at a Yagoona house on Friday to grieve Mr Yaghi's death.

Mr Yaghi was a father, a keen Mazda drag racing competitor and was a well-liked customer at a Bankstown restaurant.

Neighbour Kylie Cook and her daughter, Ashlei-Rose, didn't hear the gunshots, but heard the ute crash.

"When my mum was outside, I just stayed in the room to keep away, just in case," Ashlei-Rose told reporters.

Another neighbour went to the men's assistance.

"There was one guy running around, and then he was saying `I've been shot, I've been shot'," Ms Cook said she was told by her neighbour.

One of the injured men was on the phone to his mother when the neighbour came to his aid.

"He threw the phone at her, and then she was talking to the mother," Ms Cook said.

She recalled a raid on a home earlier this year in the street when detectives searched the premises.

" ... you should have seen all the evidence bags," she said. "They're drug dealers."

Local resident Richard Booth was asleep when the gunfire erupted.

"It sounded like an explosion - crack, crack, crack, and then a roar," he told reporters.

"And then I heard our garbage bins go flying down the driveway.

He heard one of them say: "I've been shot, I've been shot, get an ambulance".

Police are still hunting for at least one gunman and are bracing for any retaliatory attacks.

Family members and friends gathered at the hospital on Thursday night, with women wailing and praying.

Mr Kaldas said police were called to the hospital when tempers flared after the family tried to see the bodies.

A funeral service for Mr Yaghi will be held at Lakemba Mosque followed by a burial at Rookwood cemetery.

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