Australian police and policing This article is more than 2 months oldMan charged in Sydney over daylight shooting of Melbourne gangland figure Gavin Preston
This article is more than 2 months oldPolice from Victoria and NSW raided residential properties in Bradbury, Yagoona and Campbelltown on Wednesday morning, before arresting a 22-year-old man
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A Sydney man has been charged with murder and will be extradited over the alleged execution-style shooting of Melbourne gangland figure Gavin “Capable” Preston at a suburban cafe.
Police from Victoria and New South Wales raided residential properties in Bradbury, Yagoona and Campbelltown on Wednesday morning, after the underworld figure was gunned down last month.
A 22-year-old Bradbury man was arrested without incident.
He has been charged with murder and was expected to face the Campbelltown local court on Wednesday, where police will apply for his extradition to Victoria.
He will be charged with further offences when he returns to Victoria, police said.
Preston, 50, was killed, and a 26-year-old South Morang man he was dining with was critically injured, after shots were fired outside Sweet Lulus cafe in Keilor Village on 9 September.
Det Supt Janet Stevenson refused to say if police would allege the man was the triggerman in the daylight shooting.
“He will be charged with murder so he clearly was key in that shooting,” she told reporters in Melbourne.
The man wasn’t known to police before the shooting.
Homicide detectives are still looking for other people connected to the slaying, but have contacted Preston’s family to inform them of the significant breakthrough.
“We will keep going until we find those people responsible for bringing this violence into our community,” Stevenson said.
Security camera footage showed a hooded gunman dressed in black running from the passenger side door of a black SUV and firing several shots from a handgun at Preston, who fell to the ground.
The shooter ran back to the getaway car before it sped away.
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The black Volkswagen Polo was later found burned out in Keilor Downs as police embarked on a major manhunt.
Stevenson said it had been a challenging investigation over the past six weeks.
“Ultimately our inquiries led us to NSW, and there is no doubt that we would not be in the position we are in today without the substantial assistance provided by NSW police over the last month,” he said.
“This is a significant arrest and an important step forward, however this investigation remains live and is far from over.”
The shooting was an extreme display of violence in public, with those involved having complete disregard for innocent community members, Stevenson said.
“The fear that this type of offending generates along with the high risk of innocent parties being killed, seriously injured or traumatised is unacceptable and deeply concerns us,” she said.
Preston was released from Barwon Prison in February after serving 11 years for defensive homicide over the fatal 2012 shooting of 41-year-old Adam Khoury, a Melbourne ice dealer.
He suffered nine stab wounds, several cuts to his face and head and a 15cm cut down his right jawline during an attack in the maximum security prison’s exercise yard in 2014.
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