Police investigate possible organised crime links after boy, 11, shot in the face in Sydney

Police are investigating whether people who were present during the shooting of an 11-year-old boy in Sydney’s north-west have associations with organised crime, as the child continues to fight for his life in hospital.

The boy remains in a critical condition after being transported to Westmead Children’s hospital on Monday evening suffering gunshot wounds to his face and neck, NSW police said.

Five other people were home at the unit in Norwest when a shot was fired, including four 18-year-old men and a 44-year-old woman, none of whom were injured.

One of the men, Isaac Bechara, was charged with concealing a serious indictable offence, while two of the other men were arrested and released pending further inquiries.

He appeared at Blacktown local court on Tuesday morning , where he made no application for bail, which was refused.

Supt Naomi Moore told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that police were “aware” of the unit where the shooting had occurred and had “engaged with the occupants previously”.

“This shooting at this stage does not appear to be linked directly to current conflicts however a number of individuals who were inside the unit at the time are well known to NSW police,” she said. “Their association with organised crime is being considered by investigators.”

Moore said police had spoken to “some of” the people who were in the unit at the time, and were still attempting to find others. She said some of those present were “not currently cooperating” with investigators, and police weren’t ruling out laying future charges against the men who had been released.

The weapon, from which Moore alleged one shot had been fired, was also yet to be found.

“This is very early in the investigation and there are a number of people that we are yet to speak with,” Moore said. “We are not eliminating any possibility about how this tragic situation happened.

“The prior history of the people we’re looking for will form part of the investigation.”

Police were yet to speak to the boy’s mother, who was at home during the shooting, nor had they been able to speak to the victim.

“We are not pressuring her right now to provide anything more than she feels comfortable with,” Moore saids. “Her priority is her child.”

Speaking to ABC TV on Tuesday, the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns said it was an “incredibly distressing situation” and served as a “very tragic reminder” of how dangerous guns were.

“Often the people who are the victims of guns are innocent people, many times they are children,” he said. “They’re very dangerous and we need less of them in our community.”

Moore told reporters on Monday that police were investigating how the gun came to be in the house, as there were no firearms registered to the property and none of the individuals had gun licences.

“It is an absolutely tragic situation, and we’ve seen tragedy across Sydney in the last couple of days; this is not far from the worst that I’ve seen,” she said.

There have been at least six suspected mistaken-identity shootings in Sydney since the start of last year.

Last week, two teenage boys were charged with murder after the recent shooting death of a university student in Sydney, which police say was a case of mistaken identity.

Earlier this month, the state’s police minister denied that gang violence was out of control.

Following the Bondi beach terror attack, the state government introduced new legislation to undertake Australia’s biggest gun buyback in 30 years, with the scheme set to begin on 2 November.

The Liberal opposition voted with Labor in support of a buyback last year, but on Saturday pledged it would scrap Labor’s firearm ownership caps for primary producers.

The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, instead proposed a commission of inquiry into gun laws and a freeze of any buyback. Caps for farmers and professional shooters would also be scrapped.

The police minister, Yasmin Catley, called the Coalition’s plan a “stunning backflip” and said it would leave more guns in circulation.

“Our position is simple and it has not and will not change: fewer dangerous guns in circulation means a safer NSW,” Catley said.

Sloane defended the opposition’s position on Tuesday, telling ABC radio that resources should be spent on “red-flagging terrorists” and “additional policing”.

“We just think this is a government that is trying to say that they’ve made our streets safer, when this is really a very blunt instrument that’s targeting the wrong people,” she said.