An innocent tradesman who was gunned down outside a western Sydney home in what police are investigating as a possible case of mistaken identity has been identified as Joshua MacDonald.
The 40-year-old was walking to a home on Bruce Street in Merrylands West on Wednesday afternoon when gunmen in a stolen Audi sedan opened fire, shooting him in the head and killing him instantly.
It is understood Mr MacDonald, an electrical contractor, was visiting the house, where occupants are allegedly ‘well known to police for organised crime activity’.
Police have confirmed that Mr MacDonald had no links to organised crime.
‘The victim arrived at the property with a resident from the property and two young children,’ Detective Superintendent Simon Glasser said on Wednesday.
‘People associated with this address have links to organised crime. It is a possibility that the wrong person has been shot by these offenders.’
CCTV footage later shared on TikTok captured the moment Mr MacDonald was shot, with the social media user captioning the video ‘Merrylands pew pew’.
The footage showed a gunman leaning from the rear window of a stolen grey Audi sedan and opening fire as the vehicle drove past the house. Those responsible remain on the run.
Joshua MacDonald, 40, was gunned down outside a Merrylands home on Wednesday
The gunmen, who were travelling in a stolen grey Audi, remain on the run
The news follows another fatal shooting in Glen Alpine in the city’s south-west at 4am on Tuesday.
Marco Tapia, 23, was fatally shot in the neck and arm in his bedroom after three masked men broke into a Mount Sugarloaf Drive home.
The unknown offenders fled the scene and also remain on the run.
The young man was not known to police and had only a traffic offence on his record.
A neighbour, who lives metres away from the Tapai family home, later told the Daily Mail she’d seen two hooded men in a car parked outside her house the day prior to the shooting.
‘They were sat out there for hours and I remember seeing them and thinking it was weird. I joked (to my partner) that they were on a stakeout, and then…’ she said.
After growing annoyed with them parked outside her driveway, the woman asked her partner to sandwich the suspicious car with their rubbish bins.
She said the car then did a swift U-turn and parked on the opposite side of the road, still directly facing the Tapai family home.
Marco Tapia (pictured) had a bright future ahead of him before he was killed on Tuesday
He was shot dead during a violent home invasion in Glen Alpine
Detectives are considering whether the shooting was also a mistaken identity hit.
‘Popped the wrong person. Didn’t even get the right house,’ Iziah Utai, an alleged member of the Coconut Cartel, wrote on social media after the shooting.
He returned on Wednesday to add: ‘RIP Marco. #innocentvictim.’
The Alameddine network, a notorious crime syndicate, and the Coconut Cartel, an emerging crime-for-hire gang, have become embroiled in a feud that has been linked to a series of shootings across Sydney in recent months, including on Utai’s father, ex-NRL star Matt Utai, who was shot near his home in February.
The former Bulldogs player was shot twice outside his Greenacre home in Sydney’s south-west. He was rushed to St George Hospital, where he underwent surgery and survived.
NSW Police are expected to provide more information on this week’s shootings at a press conference later today.
