Notorious Sydney crime figure Bilal Hamze was gunned down in a CBD alleyway late on Thursday night. Paramedics rushed to the scene but Hamze died at St Vincent’s Hospital later that evening.
The suspected gangland execution took place just before 10:30pm in an alleyway just off Bridge St, not far from the popular restaurant Mr Wong. Police established a crime scene around the intersection of Bridge St and Pitt St.
“All of a sudden I heard several shots go off three, four or five, and I was like ‘is that a gun?’,” a nearby resident told the ABC.
“I didn’t hear any cars or anything for at least a minute or two and I thought that I should go outside and look […] then I heard sirens, probably a few minutes later.”
#BREAKING: A man has been gunned down in a suspected gangland execution in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. #9Today pic.twitter.com/Om4WYL9HaP
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) June 17, 2021
The woman, who is originally from the US, said it was “wild” to learn that someone was gunned down in Australia, of all places, let alone in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.
The gunman hasn’t been identified just yet, and police reckon they fled the scene in an Audi. Police later found a burnt-out Audi in Northwood, where they established a second crime scene.
Bilal Hamze was the 34-year-old cousin of Bassam Hamzy, who founded the Brothers 4 Life gang and is currently doing time in Goulburn Supermax Jail.
The murder took place amid an ongoing feud between the Hamzy and the Alameddine families, News Corp reports. However there is no suggestion the Alameddine family was responsible for this shooting.
Police will address the media about this latest shooting later on Friday.
