{"id":895352,"date":"2026-09-17T13:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895352\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T13:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:30:23","slug":"four-melburnians-linked-to-gun-in-mistaken-identity-killing-of-sydney-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895352\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Melburnians linked to gun in mistaken-identity killing of Sydney student"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lachlan<\/p>\n

September 17, 2026 \u2014 8:08pm<\/p>\n

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Four Melburnians have been linked to the gun used in a fatal shooting of an innocent university student in Sydney\u2019s south-west as part of the city\u2019s gangland war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Police alleged in Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court on Thursday that Vaifaalie Tuafuti, Omar Mohamed, Amenah Abusud and a child worked for the Alameddine crime family in a recent spate of violence against the so-called Coconut Cartel.<\/p>\n

\"MarcoMarco Tapia was shot dead while in bed at his family\u2019s Glen Alpine home in Sydney on September 1.<\/p>\n

A police summary read out in Abusud\u2019s extradition hearing revealed investigators have linked the four to a gun found at the family home in the suburb of Glen Alpine where Marco Tapia, 23, was shot dead in his bed early on September 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NSW Police have said<\/a> the wrong address was targeted in what is believed to have been a botched organised crime killing. Two teenagers were charged with murder early on Thursday<\/a> over the incident.<\/p>\n

The four Victorians mentioned in court have not been charged over Tapia\u2019s death but are accused of a home invasion in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville and shooting cars in Turrella the night before.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Marco<\/a><\/p>\n

Ballistic analysis found discharged cartridge cases at the two scenes matched and were then \u201cpositively mapped\u201d to the Glen Alpine homicide scene, where a firearm was found, a NSW Police investigator testified on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSubsequent ballistic examination confirmed that the firearm was used to discharge rounds recovered from all three crime scenes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestigations relating to the homicide at Mount Sugarloaf Drive, Glen Alpine, remain ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police say Tuafuti, Mohamed, Abusud and a child left Donnybrook in Melbourne\u2019s north late on August 29 and drove to Campbelltown in Sydney\u2019s south-west, arriving at an Airbnb property about 5am on August 30.<\/p>\n

A senior constable from NSW Police\u2019s anti-gang Raptor squad said the group were \u201ccontracted by a faction of the Alameddine organised crime network \u2026 for the purposes of committing extremely violent crimes targeting several Sydney-based close associates of the Coconut Cartel\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Court documents reveal Mohamed, Tuafuti, the child, aged 16, and an unknown fourth person are accused of breaking into a home in Hurstville about 2am on August 31. No one was home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffenders utilised a sledgehammer to gain entry to the premises and discharged a round of ammunition into a wall inside,\u201d a statement of alleged facts says.<\/p>\n

The court heard the break-in was filmed, and the occupant later received a WhatsApp message that said: \u201cWe were in your house to kill you if you were there, but God gave you life today. I promise you, we are going to make sure your kids grow up with no father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Muslim<\/a><\/p>\n

The four allegedly then drove to a home in Turrella that police said was \u201cwell-known to law enforcement\u201d for links with the Coconut Cartel.<\/p>\n

Police allege four shots were fired into parked vehicles outside the house before the quartet drove back to Campbelltown.<\/p>\n

The officer from the Raptor squad said the four Victorians later left their Airbnb about 1.50am on September 1 and returned about 4am, \u201cwhere they appear to be in a rush to collect their belongings before all leaving\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tuafuti, Mohamed and Abusud were remanded in custody after NSW Police expressed fears they could flee the country if granted bail.<\/p>\n

Victorian police will drive them to Albury on Friday, where their charges will be formally filed with a NSW court.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"LachlanLachlan Abbott<\/a> is a crime reporter at The Age. He was previously a city reporter and covered breaking news.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 17, 2026 \u2014 8:08pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-895352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895352","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=895352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}