Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
Police in Victoria are appealing to members of the Comanchero outlaw bikie gang to come forward with information over the apparent accidental killings of two young men in 2017.
The murders of 22-year-old Muhamad Yucel and 26-year-old Zabi Ezedyar – both of whom were gunned down – were cases of mistaken identity and the result of “callous stupidity” and “utter incompetence” after gunmen went to the wrong house on both occasions.
Detectives believe Yucel, fatally shot at Keysborough in May 2017, and Ezedyar, shot while visiting friends in Narre Warren two months later, were killed by associates of the gang.
Detective Inspector Tim Day of Victoria Police said in the first instance “the fool got the wrong address”. In the second instance, the killers “were too scared to wait and panicked and shot Zabi before even worrying about who it was”.
Day told the media that some people within the outlaw motorcycle gang – with both direct and indirect involvement and knowledge – had been identified, including one suspect who has fled overseas.
“We know there are people in the Comancheros who are not happy about the events surrounding these two murders and are still on the fence about acting on what they know,” he said. “I say to them now, come forward — you know that this has crossed the line.”
According to Victoria Police, two vehicles potentially associated with the killers have also been identified.
These are a black 4-wheel-drive Jeep that was at the scene when Yucel was killed in Keysborough and was located burnt out in Cranbourne, and a Toyota Corolla that was involved in Ezedyar’s shooting in Narre Warren.
In April 2018, the firearm forensically linked to Yucel’s murder was recovered during a controlled burn of grassland at Aireys Inlet on the Great Ocean Road.
Day noted that shootings linked to bikie gangs involving a case of mistaken identity were not uncommon. The fatal shooting of Ikenasio Tuivasa at Ravenhall earlier in the year is believed to have happened in similar circumstances.
“They act with impunity and a cavalier attitude towards violence and it’s coming to a point where they’re targeting an individual, but don’t even bother going that far to do their homework to find out where they live or that they’re shooting at the right person,” Day said.