Saturday, January 28, 2012

AUSTRALIA - Man shot in the leg as gunfire erupts yet again in Bolton St in Guildford

OFF THE WIRE
SYDNEY'S spate of shootings claimed another victim last night, with a man shot in the leg after an altercation in front of a house.As many as seven shots were fired outside the Bolton St, Guildford house about 10.30pm, The Daily Telegraph reported.
A 24-year-old man shot in the leg was treated by paramedics at the scene and rushed to Westmead Hospital.
Neighbour Hala Khalil, 30, said she thought the shots were fireworks because of Australia Day.
Then we heard someone screaming 'my leg, my leg, my leg'," she said.
"I said to my kids 'go back, I think there's been a shooting'. (The shooter) was on foot."
At first, they thought it was fireworks, but then they heard someone screaming "My leg, my leg, my leg".
"I said to my kids go back, I think there's been a shooting."
She said: "We ran to the window and that's when we saw everyone running towards the direction of the house across the road.
"Everyone was running out of their house and I heard someone on the phone saying, 'There's been a shooting, there's been a shooting' I think they were contacting the police."
She told her children to get back to the lounge room, and they stayed inside until they saw police arrive.
"People ran out of the house across the road and people ran out of that house there (neighbouring house) that got shot at," she said.
She said the shooting upset his family and reduced his children to tears.
"My children started crying, they were petrified, they were saying 'take us out of here, take us out of here'.
"I could heard him screaming at the top of his lungs.
"There were about 15 people, I think they carried him to the veranda."
Police cordoned off the western Sydney street last night as they investigated the shooting.
Meanwhile, a tough approach to smash the silence surrounding the recent drive-by shootings seems to be working, with the victim of an earlier incident yesterday happy to co-operate with police.
One of the owners of Supertan Tanning Studio and Solarium - which was sprayed with 15 shots from a 9mm Luger semi-automatic pistol at 2am yesterday - is helping police with their inquiries.
It was the second time the Rockdale salon had been shot up and is believed to be the result of a local dispute and not linked to recent shootings in southwest Sydney. It marked the first shooting for nine days.
The "wall of silence" surrounding the shootings appears to be cracking after investigators were given the powers of the NSW Crime Commission to jail witnesses or victims who did not answer questions from police.
Two witnesses have been subpoenaed to appear at the commission.
Strike Force Spartan was set up to investigate the 50 or so drive-bys in southwestern Sydney.
In nearly all of the recent shootings, witnesses and victims have refused to talk to investigators.
Yesterday's attack on the Rockdale salon came after at least nine shots shattered the front window of the solarium in July 2008. It was linked to a dispute between the Hells Angels and the Comanchero bikie gxxgs.
Detective Inspector Gary Ballard said the investigation would include whether the shootings were linked.
http://www.news.com.au/national/drive-by-victim-talks-to-police/story-e6frfkvr-1226254836871