Victoria Police said two men were sitting inside the car in the Craigieburn Central shopping centre car park on Windrock Avenue when the shooting occurred.<\/p>\n
Police said the offenders fled in a black Range Rover Sport. It was later found torched in Westmeadows, about 12 kilometres south of the shooting site.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
People talking to police at the scene of the shooting.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Luis Ascui<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s believed four males fled from that vehicle and are yet to be located at this stage,\u201d police said in a statement on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n \u201cInvestigators are still working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident, however at this early stage the incident appears to be targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n A group of people, including some crying in distress, huddled together at the crime scene hours after dark on Saturday night.<\/p>\n Some had to be restrained at times as they clashed with police while trying to get closer to the bullet-riddled car and a white sheet covering a figure on the ground beside it.<\/p>\n In August, this masthead revealed Middle Eastern crime gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs were among those warring for control of a lucrative racket extorting tobacco shops and torching those who didn\u2019t sell their illegal tobacco.<\/p>\n Underworld figure Gavin \u201cCapable\u201d Preston was shot dead at a cafe in Keilor in another targeted attack in broad daylight last month. Abbas Jr \u201cAJ\u201d Maghnie, the son of late underworld enforcer Nabil Maghnie, was also seriously injured in the shooting, which sparked fears of a new gangland war.<\/p>\n Preston had attempted to muscle in on the lucrative extortion racket being waged against Melbourne\u2019s tobacco retailers that has involved more than a dozen firebombings since rival organised crime gangs began fighting over the tobacco trade earlier this year.<\/p>\n A large police presence guarded the Craigieburn crime scene on Saturday evening as detectives began their investigation.<\/p>\n One witness, who did not want to be identified, told The Age<\/em> they saw a group of several men wearing balaclavas jump out of a car before gunshots rang out.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all got out of the car and I heard gunshots,\u201d they said. \u201cThey were all wearing balaclavas. [The gunshots] stopped and they sped off. I had to swerve so my car didn\u2019t get hit.\u201d<\/p>\n The witness said they saw blood on the neck of the seriously injured victim, who was taken to hospital. The incident left them traumatised and upset, they said.<\/p>\n Another witness, who also did not want to be named, said: \u201cI was just coming back from early voting and noticed a large crowd and cops and what seemed like bullet holes on a car\u2019s window. They were asking us to move away and were closing off the area.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n