An innocent teenager came dangerously close to being shot when gunfire rained on a residential Melbourne street during a targeted attack on a gangland figure.
The target was Hawre Sherwani, 33, who was just streets from his home on Heysen Parkway in Caroline Springs when a series of shots were fired about 10.30pm yesterday.
He rushed to a nearby house for help, collapsing by the front door.
“We were just talking to him, ‘What’s your name, keep your eyes open’. His eyes were closing and in and out [of consciousness], so we were trying to keep him awake,” resident James Fernando said.
“Our focus was just to help him out and they call the ambulance and the police and they just try to save him.”
Sherwani was taken to hospital with upper body injuries but died shortly afterwards.
CCTV showed Sherwani’s VW Golf being tailed by the hitmen in a dark-coloured car.
The hitmen had retrofitted the car with lights and sirens to imitate an unmarked police car and sounded a fake siren.
They then erupted in gunfire at Sherwani, who had long had a target on his back.
Sherwani fled to get help and bullets rang out.
During the gunfire, a rogue bullet pierced the bedroom window of a 15-year-old boy who’d just left the room seconds before it went through his mattress.
Detective Superintendent Janet Stevenson described the attack as “brazen, irresponsible and very targeted”.
“It’s very concerning for this neighbourhood,” she said.
”There could have been people walking, there’s still people being active in their homes (at that time).”
What was left behind at the scene was the VW Golf covered in bullet holes and Sherwani’s own gun on the road.
A dark-coloured Tiguan VW, which was stolen from Clyde months ago, was found torched a few kilometres away on Beattie Road about 10.45pm.
Stevenson said Sherwani has organised crime links and had been the victim of a series of other targeted attacks for “probably more than two years”.
Investigators will look at whether this incident is linked to a number of shots being fired at him on Fraser Rise, Caroline Spring, on March 20 last year.
The former Comanchero bikie’s market business was firebombed in the past, as well as his home multiple times.
He was investigated for drug crimes, firearms offences and standover tactics.
His associate Robert Issa was executed in a Craigieburn car park in 2023.
Stevenson said police were “very concerned” about potential retaliation attacks following Sherwani’s death.
A gun and dozens of bullet casings remain spread across the street this morning as homicide detectives probe the scene.
Forensic detectives have been seen carrying away bags of evidence and inspecting a trailer outside a home.
Stevenson said police believed at least one person involved in the shooting had been injured and urged them to seek medical assistance.
“It could be quite serious injuries,” she said.
The two gunmen remain on the run tonight as investigations continue.
Police are seeking dashcam footage from the area at the time of the shooting and car fire.
