Rachad Adra, a father of three, was in bed with his wife and young son at 3.45am when shooters opened fire, homicide squad chief Detective Inspector Mick Hughes said. Forensics police examine the Darebin Drive house in Thomastown. Credit:Joe Armao Bullets penetrated the front of the single-storey brick house, travelled through a front room and into the bedroom. Inspector Hughes said the weapon "had to be high-powered" to be able to penetrate the house. The incident - the latest in a series of drive-by shootings - has prompted the Andrews government to bring forward tougher gun-trafficking laws, which are now due to come into effect in Victoria by Christmas.

The dead man was a Syrian Australian, who was not known to police. Bullet holes through the window of Darebin Drive house in Thomastown, where a man was murdered and child seriously injured. Credit:Joe Armao But others who lived at the home have had contact with authorities in the past, Inspector Hughes said. Mr Adra lived with his wife and three sons. Police talk to men outside the Thomastown house. Credit:Joe Armao

His four-year-old son Kareem received two injuries, one serious. It is not yet clear whether he was shot or hit by bullet fragments. Detectives had no evidence to suggest the attack was linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs or the drug trade, Inspector Hughes said. Wednesday's shooting was the fifth so far this month. Credit:Joe Armao "The viciousness of the attack, you'd certainly think it's targeted," he said, adding that police were examining the possibility of a link to a nearby shooting on the corner of Darebin Drive and Guam Court in Lalor on October 16. "The offenders are being looked at for murder ... if you're going to use a high-powered weapon in a public place, the chances of somebody getting killed is pretty likely," Inspector Hughes said.

A house on Darebin Drive in Thomastown was the scene of a drive-by shooting. Credit:Joe Armao He said the child's mother was comforting her son at the Royal Children's Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. The 54-year-old man suffered critical injuries to his torso after being hit by one of the rounds. He later died at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. A car parked outside the home was also damaged. Credit:Joe Armao Shots ring out, screams heard

Neighbours reported hearing multiple shots ring out, glass shattering and then screeching tyres, before screams and shouting from people in a foreign language. Police gather outside the home in Darebin Drive, Thomastown. Credit:Joe Armao "To be honest, I thought it was my son was playing those video games," one woman said. A woman, who asked to be known to only as Penny, said she also heard a woman and child crying.



"She was screaming, the baby was screaming and crying and there was a male voice," she said.



"The woman she was screaming at the top of her lungs ... just hysterical." The front window of the house appeared to have been struck by bullets four times, while the windscreen of a car parked in the driveway of the home was also damaged.

Forensics police marked what appeared to be nine bullet casings on the road on Tuesday morning, while detectives knocked on neighbours' doors asking for any information and CCTV footage. A children's inflatable pool and trampoline were seen in the well-kept yard at the rear of the home, where clothes hung on a washing line. A group of men, who appeared to be aged in their 20s, arrived at the scene at about 10.30am and spent an hour speaking to detectives. They declined to comment on the events of the morning, but one man was believed to be a relative who accompanied one of the victims to hospital. Natasha, who lives across the road, said she believed several young men, aged in their 20s, lived at the home.

She described them as quiet neighbours, who were often seen tinkering with their cars in the front yard. "I don't hear any drama or anything from them, they're always outside with the cars, there's a lot of boys there. I see a few younger kids, I've never actually seen parents," she said. Of the two shootings in the past fortnight, Natasha said: "[It] definitely doesn't make you fell safe". "I've been here for over 16 years and I've never heard of gunshots or things like that happening here," she said. "There's a lot of hoon drivers, boys running their cars, but I've never seen any other kind of criminal activity at all."

The owners of the house, who also live in the suburb but have not lived in Darebin Drive for several years, declined to comment. It is unclear if they knew the victim. Spate of shootings The Thomastown slaying is the fourth shooting incident in less than four days, and the flashpoint in a spate of shootings across Melbourne in the past month. It comes only days after six rounds from a semi-automatic rifle were fired through the front door of the home of Racing Victoria's chief steward Terry Bailey.

It is believed the shooter walked up to Mr Bailey's front door and opened fire about 9.15pm on Sunday, October 25. In a separate incident, a man is his 40s was shot in the leg at Riggall Street, Broadmeadows, about 4.30am. He was taken to hospital in a serious condition, but was not co-operating with police. Details of another weekend shooting emerged on Tuesday morning, when police confirmed that a drive-by attack on a house in Fitzroy North was being investigated. A man saw a driver performing "wheelies" outside his house in Hope Street about 5.15am on Saturday, and shots were fired in his window soon after. Police believe the shooting was a case of mistaken identity, and are appealing for anyone who saw a 2000 or 2001 model dark blue Holden Commodore to come forward. Less than two weeks ago, a house in Lalor, also on Darebin Drive - the street crosses into the neighbouring suburb - was targeted in a drive-by shooting.

A bullet from a high-powered gun was fired into the home of the Ahmad family in Lalor, narrowly missing an eight-year-old girl sleeping inside, about 3.30am on October 15. . Meanwhile, shots were fired at a car reversing from a Camp Road driveway in Broadmeadows about 11.10pm on October 11. Six hours later - about 4.30am - shots were fired at a nearby Graham Street property, damaging windows and guttering. Four to five people were inside the house at the time, but escaped injury. However, police said the two Broadmeadows shootings were not believed to be linked.

Two days later, high-ranking Comanchero bikie Robert Morando was ambushed and shot in the torso while on his regular evening walk in Narre Warren on Wednesday, October 14. And on October 16, a man was shot in the groin in an unrelated shooting in Geelong. Ice trade, guns and outlaw bikies Police Minister Wade Noonan said the state's ice drug trade appeared to be behind the recent shootings. "The conversations I've had with Victoria Police very much point to our ice trade and obviously organised crime, outlaw motorcycle gangs - that seems to be the source," he told radio station 3AW on Tuesday morning.

Firearm offences have increased threefold in Melbourne's north-west suburbs over the past five years. There has been a similar trend statewide, with firearm offences increasing more than 50 per cent.



Fairfax Media reported in June that police were finding guns in cars every two days in Melbourne's north-west, while there was a firearm "incident" such as a drive-by shooting every seven days. Police said they are regularly finding guns in cars, including sawn-off shotguns and automatic machine guns, during routine car intercepts. They have previously raised concerns that more low-level criminals, particularly drug dealers, are carrying guns either as a "gangster" symbol or for supposed protection. Police have also attributed the increase in weapons detection to the theft of registered guns from shops or homes. Until recently, the theft of a firearm was not a recognised offence in Victoria.

In the wake of Tuesday's shooting, the Labor government brought forward new laws making the theft of a firearm an offence in the Crimes Act. The laws will come into effect by Christmas. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. SHOOTINGS Sunday, October 11: Shots were fired at a car reversing from a Camp Road driveway in Broadmeadows about 11.10pm. Monday, October 12: Six hours after the first Broadmeadows shooting - about 4.30am - shots were fired at a nearby Graham Street property, damaging windows and guttering.

Wednesday, October 14: High-ranking Comanchero bikie Robert Morando was ambushed and shot in the torso while on his regular evening walk in Narre Warren South. Thursday, October 15: A man was shot in the groin in Geelong. Friday, October 16: A bullet from a high-powered gun was fired into a family home in Lalor, narrowly missing an eight-year-old girl sleeping inside. The home, belonging to the Ahmad family, was hit with a bullet about 3.30am.



Saturday, October 24: A house is targeted in a drive-by shooting in Hope Street, Fitzroy North, about 5.15am. A man saw a driver performing "wheelies" outside his house, and shots were fired in his window soon after. Police believe the shooting was a case of mistaken identity.



Sunday, October 25: Six rounds from a semi-automatic rifle were fired through the front door of the home of Racing Victoria's chief steward Terry Bailey. It is believed the shooter walked up to Mr Bailey's front door and opened fire about 9.15pm. Sunday, October 25: A man is his 40s was shot in the leg at Riggall Street, Broadmeadows, about 4.30am. He was taken to hospital in a serious condition, but was not co-operating with police. Tuesday, October 27: A man died and a four-year-old boy was injured after a home in Darebin Drive, Thomastown, was peppered with bullets about 3.45am.