Four Sydney teens arrested after alleged shooting spree

Four teenagers are believed to be behind a spate of shootings targeted at homes in Sydney’s south-west and the Illawarra.

The group, ranging in age from 16 to 19 years old, are due to face court on Thursday after they were arrested in a series of raids early on Wednesday morning.

The three alleged shootings in three days began on the morning of April 9 when a number of shots were fired towards a home at Kanahooka near Lake Illawarra at about 4.30am.

Then in the early hours of April 12, several shots were fired from a car into the front of a home on Columbine Avenue, Punchbowl.

A second home was targeted about 15 minutes later on Noble Avenue, Greenacre.

The investigation was handed over to Taskforce Falcon, which targets gangland violence with a focus on the recruitment of young offenders to allegedly carry out attacks on behalf of organised crime.

Raids on Thursday targeted homes at Fairfield, Liverpool and Macquarie Fields, while an 18-year-old man, Ali Khalid Saud, was arrested at Moorebank.

He was charged and is due to face Liverpool Local Court on Thursday, along with Abdulazeez Alghileiwi, 19.

Two others, aged 16 and 17, who cannot be identified due to their ages, are scheduled to appear before a Children’s Court.

All four are facing two counts of firing at a dwelling and participating in a criminal group.

Police have also released CCTV footage of a red Mitsubishi Pajero, seen with P-plates on the back, near the scene of the two Sydney shootings, and have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Taskforce Falcon, established a little over 12 months ago to target escalating conflict between organised crime groups, has made hundreds of arrests.

But the level of violence continuing on the streets of Sydney remains “completely unacceptable,” NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said last week.

Premier Chris Minns said some in organised crime no longer feared being caught.

“Their chances of committing an offence and getting away with it are close to zero, and yet they continue to do it anyway,” Minns said.

Police suspect the gun jammed, enabling the man and his teenage daughter to flee.