Tap, tap, tap: CCTV captures chilling move before gunman executes women
A chilling move allegedly by a gunman before he shot dead two women in Sydney’s southwest on Saturday night has been captured on CCTV.
In eerie new footage obtained by the ABC from a neighbour’s security camera in Panania, the sound of 17 gunshots ring out on a quiet suburban street.
But it’s the subtle, first second of the video that would have ensured the victims were filled with terror before the gunshots rung out.
Four rapid taps are heard, believed to be the gunman striking his weapon on the glass window of a vehicle before firing into the back seat where Lametta Fadlallah and Amy Hazouri sat.
Ms Fadlallah died at the scene while Ms Hazouri died from her injuries at Liverpool hospital.
Ms Fadlallah’s family believe the gunman tapped on the glass in a deliberate act to let the women know what was coming.
“They made sure she saw the gun before she died,” the victim’s mother Nadia told The Australian.
“Only God and her knows who it is.
“That secret goes with her.”
The two women had been sitting inside the Toyota four-wheel-drive outside Ms Fadlallah's house, along with a 20-year-old man who was driving and a 16-year-old girl in the passenger seat.
It was about 8.50pm when another vehicle pulled up beside them and opened fire on the pair.
Lametta Fadlallah linked to organised crime
While 48-year-old Ms Fadlallah had previous links to organised crime, police don’t believe that she had a criminal history herself.
However her family has hit back at claims by police that she was on their radar.
“That’s disgusting, that’s something that really cuts us up,” Ms Fadlallah’s sister Sandra Fadlallah said.
“Her ex-husband was, but she wasn’t.”
Ms Fadlahhah had once been married to one of Sydney’s most notorious gang leaders, Shadi Derbas.
The pair married in the 1990s and had a son together before separating.
Derbas had been a key member of the Telopea Street Gang.
After separating, Ms Fadlalluh went on to have a second son with Helal Safi, a known standover man and drug dealer who died of a heart attack last year.
Police say they are investigating the links between the victim and underworld figures.
Amy Hazouri lost in collateral damage
Ms Fadlallah and Ms Hazouri, a 39-year-old local hairdresser, had been preparing for a night out when they were killed in a shower of bullets.
It’s believed that Ms Fadlallah was the gunman’s target and that her friend was lost in collateral damage.
The two others in the car escaped uninjured but incredibly shaken, according to police.
Detective Superintenent Danny Doherty labelled the killings as an “assassination” and “unprecedented” saying the unwritten law among Sydney’s underworld that women and families were off-limits had been broken.
“Every rule book had been thrown out and that is concerning.”
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