Melbourne’s underworld war has reignited after a car outside a home linked to an alleged gangland figure was torched in what police suspect was a targeted attack.
Emergency services were called to a home in Fawkner, in the city’s north, at around 3.30am on Thursday after a Toyota Camry parked in the driveway was set alight with accelerant.
Shocked witnesses claimed gunshots were fired before the car burst into flames. Police believe an unknown number of hitmen fled the scene in a getaway vehicle.
A second Toyota Camry was found burnt out nearby outside a local primary school in Lowson Street a short time later.
A car outside a home allegedly linked to gangland figure Mohammed Oueida was torched early Thursday morning
Police are investigating whether a white Toyota Camry found burnt out in nearby Lowson Street is linked to the earlier incident
Police are investigating whether the car fires are linked to a late-night shooting at the home five days earlier where the front door was peppered with bullets.
The address is linked to alleged Melbourne underworld figure Mohammed Oueida, who’s currently behind bars in Western charged with drug trafficking offences.
Police said one man fired shots at the home while his armed accomplice tried to break in.
The empty handed pair then fled the scene in an allegedly stolen Suzuki Swift which was later found burnt out in Broadmeadows.
The pair remain on the run five days on.
Three people at home at the time of the shooting weren’t injured.
‘At this stage, police believe the incidents were targeted,’ a statement read.
The blue car was doused with accelerant and set alight by an unknown group of offenders
A white Toyota Camry was found burnt out outside a nearby primary school a short time later
Separate crime scenes remained in place at the cordoned off home and outside the school in Lowson Street on Thursday morning.
The extensively damaged cars remained at the respective scenes.
The latest incident has concerned neighbours fearing for their safety.
‘I don’t feel safe here now,’ one man told the Herald Sun.
‘What’s going to happen the third time around?’
‘This is about striking terror, you just don’t need a gun to break a car window.’
It’s not the first time properties allegedly linked to Oueida have been targeted.
Luxury cars and two other homes were firebombed in 2018, which resulted in more than $100,000 damage.
A year earlier, Oueida was shot in the stomach while leaving a mosque.
Anyone with any information, CCTV or dash cam footage of any of the latest incidents is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The Fawkner home where the first car was torched was targeted in a late night shooting five days earlier. Pictured are detectives at the scene on Thursday