Homicide detectives believe they have found a second getaway car related to the murder of Melbourne gangland figure Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim in Preston on Tuesday.
Detective Inspector Dean Thomas, the head of Victoria Police’s homicide squad, told Nova FM on Wednesday morning that police were investigating if Abdulrahim’s killers fled in a grey Ford Ranger ute after torching their initial getaway car in Reservoir.
“We know that Ford Ranger has made its way to Western Avenue in Westmeadows, where that was set alight,” Thomas said. “Now we’re working on the belief that that is involved, given the timing and location.”
Thomas said the grey Ford Ranger had a canopy with a distinctive image of bullhorns on its rear window. Anyone who saw it in the 24 hours leading up to Abdulrahim’s death is urged to contact police.
Abdulrahim, the Melbourne underworld’s most-hunted man, was shot dead by an organised hit team of up to four assailants in the car park of the Quest hotel on High Street in Preston about 10am on Tuesday.
That afternoon, police said they believed the hit team fled in a white car. A white Porsche SUV was later found ablaze, less than two kilometres away at the end of Alexandra Street – off Northernhay Street – in Reservoir.
On Wednesday morning, Thomas described the shooting as “brazen” but assured Victorians there was little threat to the broader community.
“It wasn’t a random sort of shooting. This was very targeted at this particular individual,” he said.
