The alleged leader of the Coconut Cartel gang has claimed a student killed in a \u201ctargeted\u201d home invasion in Sydney\u2019s southwest was an \u201cinnocent victim\u201d. <\/p>\n
Student Marco Tapia, 23,was found with a gunshot wound at Mount Sugarloaf Drive in Glen Alpine about 3.40am on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Initial reports suggest he was in his bed at the time of the shooting. <\/p>\n
Police were told the unknown intruders had fled the scene a short time before officers arrived.<\/p>\n
Mr Tapia could not be saved and died at the scene.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old is believed to have been studying Biomedical Engineering and, in 2024, had graduated with a Bachelor of Medical and Health Sciences.<\/p>\n
Police said he had no known gang affiliations and was only known to authorities for traffic offences.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday evening, the alleged leader of the Sydney gang Coconut Cartel, Iziah Utai, shared a post on his Instagram story saying Mr Tapia was innocent. <\/p>\n
\u201cRIP Marco,\u201d the post read. <\/p>\n
\u201cInnocent victim.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay the oppressors and tyrants fall!\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside the tribute to Mr Tapia, Utai shared a quote from the Qur\u2019an. <\/p>\n
This is the second post Utai has shared seemingly in connection to the fatal shooting. <\/p>\n
He shared the first post to his Instagram story on Tuesday morning hours after Mr Tapia was killed, seemingly referring to the Glen Alpine shooting. <\/p>\n
\u201cPopped the wrong person,\u201d the post read.<\/p>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t even get the right house.\u201d <\/p>\n
Superintendent Atkins said police were investigating Mr Utai\u2019s initial post.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re aware of those online social media posts, and everything is under consideration,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane said the fatal shooting was \u201cjust tragic\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cGangland war is out of control on our streets in Sydney,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201c50 shootings this year alone. It\u2019s terrifying. This is Sydney, not Colombia. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a situation with a 23-year-old shot dead in his bed overnight. A grandfather was kidnapped and murdered. People are being shot at in front of Sydney schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
A neighbour told 7News they saw three men in black balaclavas running from the scene shortly after the shooting. <\/p>\n
It is not yet known how many people were inside the house at the time of the home invasion.<\/p>\n
Acting Superintendent Gretchin Atkins said police were treating the incident as targeted. <\/p>\n
\u201cA young man has lost his life today, and that\u2019s obviously just tragic,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
A large crime scene has been established as officers comb through the evidence. <\/p>\n
Police escorted distraught family members from the house while emotional friends and loved ones gathered at the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were family who were home, and they\u2019re assisting us, and they\u2019re very, very helpful,\u201d Superintendent Atkins said.<\/p>\n
She said police were \u201creassuring the public that it is a targeted attack\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly not something that anybody would want to be occurring,\u201d Superintendent Atkins said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just encouraging anybody as well \u2026 if they see somebody or something that is suspicious, if they have any concerns, they contact triple 0.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the locals and residents in this area, (if) they saw anything in the lead-up, to also please contact Crime Stoppers and let us know.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny small piece of information is what we may get the break that we\u2019re actually looking for.\u201d <\/p>\n
The State Crime Command homicide squad has been called in to assist in the investigation.<\/p>\n
Anybody with information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The alleged leader of the Coconut Cartel gang has claimed a student killed in a \u201ctargeted\u201d home invasion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[141067,92476,46517,41391,17327,138573,141077,138581,138611,24596,138595,45430,40819,93623,138577,71598,56681,105008,56714,42345,45463,106062,138576,43673,141066,116261,138599,138580,43100,138612,112597,32263,43449,138584,15840,138596,138608,37677,3052,38110,141071,138614,138586,39906,138603,42230,81698,6050,96604,141070,53559,138607,141076,138587,141073,138578,379,138615,138583,141065,138602,25531,51216,7350,1047,141069,138593,138585,138610,247,138613,138598,138600,116436,141078,38273,42720,141068,138606,138591,37465,36531,39099,138582,141075,41318,37118,44774,138605,37168,138589,141074,53525,141079,138594,36556,76452,138597,138601,48193,39096,138604,65177,31666,141072,47879,36985,138609,53500],"class_list":["post-85475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-s-initial-post","tag-s-post","tag-s-southwest","tag-41391","tag-17327","tag-23yo","tag-23yo-student-marco-tapaia","tag-3-40am","tag-50-shootings","tag-7news","tag-a-23-year-old-shot","tag-a-bachelor","tag-a-grandfather","tag-a-gunshot-wound","tag-a-large-crime-scene","tag-a-neighbour","tag-a-post","tag-a-quote","tag-a-short-time","tag-a-situation","tag-a-student","tag-a-targeted-attack","tag-a-targeted-home-invasion","tag-a-young-man","tag-an-innocent-victim","tag-any-concerns","tag-any-small-piece","tag-arrived-mr-tapia","tag-authorities","tag-biomedical-engineering","tag-black-balaclavas","tag-connection","tag-consideration","tag-contact-crime-stoppers","tag-control","tag-distraught-family-members","tag-emotional-friends-and-loved-ones","tag-evening","tag-family","tag-front","tag-gang-figure","tag-gangland-war","tag-glen-alpine","tag-his-bed","tag-his-instagram-story","tag-his-life","tag-how-many-people","tag-information","tag-innocent","tag-innocent-victim","tag-iziah-utai","tag-medical-and-health-sciences-police","tag-morning-hours","tag-mount-sugarloaf-drive","tag-mr-tapia","tag-mr-utai","tag-newswire-news","tag-no-known-gang-affiliations","tag-not-colombia","tag-not-something","tag-nsw-liberal-leader-kellie-sloane","tag-officers","tag-our-streets","tag-people","tag-police","tag-rip-marco","tag-somebody-or-something","tag-student-marco-tapia","tag-superintendent-atkins","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-schools","tag-targeted","tag-the-alleged-leader","tag-the-break","tag-the-coconut-cartel-gang","tag-the-evidence","tag-the-fatal-shooting","tag-the-first-post","tag-the-glen-alpine-shooting","tag-the-home-invasion-acting-superintendent-gretchin-atkins","tag-the-house","tag-the-incident","tag-the-lead-up","tag-the-locals-and-residents","tag-the-oppressors-and-tyrants","tag-the-post","tag-the-public","tag-the-quran","tag-the-right-house","tag-the-scene","tag-the-scene-the-23-year-old","tag-the-second-post-utai","tag-the-shooting","tag-the-state-crime-command","tag-the-sydney-gang-coconut-cartel","tag-the-time","tag-the-tribute","tag-the-unknown-intruders","tag-the-wrong-person","tag-this-area","tag-this-year","tag-those-online-social-media-posts","tag-three-men","tag-today","tag-traffic-offences-on","tag-triple-0","tag-tuesday","tag-tuesday-initial-reports","tag-utai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}