"Isn’t it sad that our parents fled wars to avoid death, only to bury their children in another land," Mr Dhieu said. "How many mothers have to keep losing their sons till we had enough? When are we youths going to wake up and stop fantasising the gang life? Really wish people would be better in this world, it doesn’t take much." "[My cousin] was a very genuine guy who would go out of his way to help anyone out, he was like family to everyone that knew him," he said. A photo of Winis Atep posted by his brother in a tribute on Facebook. Credit:Daniel Deng/Facebook Mr Dhieu, a 20-year-old student at La Trobe University, told The Age many young people from migrant backgrounds were "often caught in between two cultures, from who they really are to who they are perceived as", which led some to idolise overseas gang culture.

"When our young people are labelled against and alienated from society, they are forced to look elsewhere in order to find that sense of self and belonging ... they find ways to make themselves feel that they belong by fantasising about America and how the gang life is idolised over there. It makes them feel tough and a part of something," he said. "Many of these people are faced with opportunity gaps which begin early, often at birth, and they compound over time, becoming harder and harder to bridge, making too many young people feel like no matter how hard they try, they may never achieve their dreams. "And that sense of unfairness and of powerlessness, of people not hearing their voices, that has helped fuel some of the youth violence that we’ve seen in Melbourne in the past few years," he said. He said the broader community was unwilling to invest and help solve the issue, and he feared for the safety of his family and friends down the track. "We need to contain and control this problem," he said.

Winis Apet was shot dead in Springvale on Sunday night. Mr Dhieu said the Mr Apet's family were grieving and had requested privacy. He said the issue went beyond tougher policing and that solutions could be found by addressing issues of unemployment and a lack of strong role models. "In parts of Melbourne, in parts of Sydney and Brisbane, there are communities that don’t have enough jobs, don’t have enough investments, don’t have enough opportunity, communities struggling with unemployment and communities without enough role models," he said. Deng Daniel, Mr Apet's brother who lives in South Sudan, wrote of his grief from the other side of the world.

"I lost my lovely youngest brother of mine ... in Australia, Melbourne, this morning. Let’s his soul rest in peace," Mr Daniel wrote in a Facebook post in which he shared several family photos. The Age has been told some members of the African-Australian community have been concerned for months about escalating violence between groups from different suburbs in Melbourne, with some organisations trying to "defrost" tensions. "It's an American style thinking these kids have adopted for no reason," one said. Mr Apet was the fifth person killed in Melbourne in less than a fortnight as a result of four separate shootings. Police have stressed the incident is not connected to the shootings last week in Kensington, Meadow Heights and Dandenong.

Founder of Youth Activating Youth Ahmed Hassan said the community condemned the gun violence. “It’s entirely shocking to see an act like this happen, especially in this day and age to have young people go at it like that, it’s something we shouldn’t be seeing,” he said. “My deepest condolences to the family, to see your son gunned down on a night out, I really do feel for the family."