Crime group 'links' in spotlight after deadly Sydney pub shooting

Monday, 18 August 2025 11:15

Police believe the attack, which left one man dead and another badly injured, was targeted.

Police are investigating organised crime links after one man was shot dead and another seriously injured outside a pub in Sydney's inner west yesterday evening.

Detectives are doorknocking neighbours to find out more about the deadly attack at the Harold Park Hotel on Ross Street, Forest Lodge, after the shooting was reported at about 6.40pm on Sunday.

Officers arrived to find two men shot multiple times by an assailant who fled the scene and is now at large, sparking a major search.

The two men had been watching UFC 319 onscreen at the pub, before leaving to go to their car.

Detective Superintendent Alfio Sergi told media this morning that the fatally shot man, aged 39, had died near the car on Wigram Street.

The second man, aged 31, was shot while running for his life back towards the pub, and was found "slumped over a garbage bin" in Alfred Road.

Both men suffered multiple gunshot wounds, with NSW Ambulance paramedics treating them at the scene.

A passing doctor provided first aid to the man who had been shot first, but was unable to save him.

The other, who had wounds to the neck, chest and abdomen, was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a serious condition.

Medical students in the Harold Park Hotel helped provide first aid to him, along with paramedics.

Sergi said at this early stage police believed there had only been one shooter, but they weren't discounting the possibility of an accomplice.

He was unwilling to speculate on motive, but said he believed it was a "targeted attack".

"Obviously (we are) looking at links with organised crime networks, that'll be the focus of our investigation," he said.

The injured man had this morning undergone a second round of surgery, and police have not yet been able to speak with him.

Anybody with daschcam footage of the area between 2pm and 7pm is urged to come forward.

Witnesses reported hearing between six and 12 gunshots with multiple bullet casings found by police at the scene.

"I walked around the corner, I saw the guy had been, they'd been shot," one bystander told 9News.

"One of them had been shot, was lying on the ground.

"So I ran up to him and then 30 seconds later, some doctors and some other ladies that were inside the hotel came out."

One local told the Sydney Morning Herald she saw one of the men shot about six times.

"He had been shot multiple times, at least six times," she said.

"But he was still conscious, and they put him in the ambulance so hopefully he makes a full recovery.

"It just doesn't feel like something that happens in Sydney very often, but when it does happen, it feels pretty scary."

Among patrons in the busy pub were at least one doctor and nurse who rushed to offer first aid before multiple ambulance and police cars swarmed the scene.

The pub's manager told the Sydney Morning Herald the men were part of a group who had just left the hotel when the incident occurred, as they walked up Wigram Road.

A third person was also assaulted during the incident, according to the publication.

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