Sign up now!!! <\/a><\/p>\nDoueihi ready to start as Tigers’ halves | 01:05<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has led gunman to his house, and to eventually pull the trigger, on a man who is not known for any criminal links whatsoever and is known for his feats on the rugby league field?<\/p>\n
\u201c… It\u2019s a high-profile name and it\u2019s a shocking incident that has happened this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanrahan said police were looking into the fact there may have been another shooting at the residence in recent months.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Hart confirmed police were treating it as a \u201ctargeted\u201d attack on the residence and appealed to any witnesses in the area to come forward to police.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe person that is currently in hospital … is known to police but he has no criminal history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201c…The majority of these types of incidents are linked to organised crime but it is concerning when innocent people are injured and… this strike force will focus heavily on identifying why this has happened and who was involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Superintendent Hart said there was a \u201cconcerning\u201d escalation in crime in the city\u2019s southwest, and police were investigating if the shooting was linked to other incidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen fire bombings and shootings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point in time, it is early in the investigation, so investigators need to link those parts together to identify if this certain shooting is linked to any other organised crime or recent activity in Sydney.\u201d<\/p>\n
Utai was part of the Bulldogs\u2019 2004 Bulldogs premiership-winning team and played 162 NRL games for the club, and later the Wests Tigers, between 2002 and 2013.<\/p>\n
He was named 2002 Dally M Rookie of the Year and played four times for New Zealand and three times for Samoa.<\/p>\n
NEIGHBOURS RECALL HEARING GUNSHOTS, SCREAMS<\/p>\n
Salma, who has lived in the area for more than two years, said she was woken by the sound of gunshots firing through the residential street.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just heard like about four, five shots, (a) scream, and \u2026 a car speeding so quick,\u201d she told NewsWire.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just happened so quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
After hearing the sound of gunfire, Salma ran outside and recalled seeing \u201ca few people\u201d on the street, including police and paramedics.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time I looked out the window, about three or four minutes later, (I saw) just cops and ambulances coming down my street,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Salma said she was shaken by the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really upset,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know the person, but it\u2019s sad.\u201d<\/p>\n
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 3: Matt Utai of the Bulldogs shows fans the NRL trophy during the NRL Grand Final between the Sydney Roosters and the Bulldogs held at Telstra Stadium, October 3, 2004 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Chris McGrath\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Triple-M breakfast show host Beau Ryan, who was Mr Utai\u2019s teammate at the Wests Tigers, said his loved ones were \u201cstill trying to process\u201d the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are praying for Matt and his family that hopefully he makes a recovery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is tough times. Thoughts and prayers to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Ryan said he had a lot of memories with the former NRL player.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember it clearly the first time I met Matt Utai \u2013 we obviously played with him at the Tigers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a guy we spent a lot of time with on the field and off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Triple-M co-host Aaron Woods, who also played alongside Mr Utai, said he was \u201crocked\u201d by the shooting and had his \u201cfingers crossed\u201d for a quick recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent a lot of time with Matty. I still talk to him a lot to this day \u2026 so rocked a little bit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, a speedy recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canterbury Bulldogs premiership hero Matt Utai has been hospitalised and undergone emergency surgery after being shot twice in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,689,244885,30195,7622,245527,244900,245529,17343,244884,244881,17724,245530,245532,763,2105,168669,245528,245531,673,677,4598,29107,52764,81679,33195,85,670,245526],"class_list":{"0":"post-484883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","11":"tag-bargain-buy","12":"tag-cameron-spencer","13":"tag-canterbury-bulldogs","14":"tag-car-fire","15":"tag-chief-ends-rule","16":"tag-crime-scenes","17":"tag-daily-telegraph","18":"tag-dogs-reveal","19":"tag-eligibility-overhaul","20":"tag-emergency-services","21":"tag-ex-bulldogs-player","22":"tag-forensic-examination","23":"tag-fox-league","24":"tag-getty-images-inc","25":"tag-halves-dilemma","26":"tag-hamstring-tear","27":"tag-multiple-gunshot-wounds","28":"tag-new-south-wales","29":"tag-oceania","30":"tag-penrith-panthers","31":"tag-premiership-hero","32":"tag-premiership-winner","33":"tag-public-place-shooting","34":"tag-season-opener","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-sydney","37":"tag-wiley-park"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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