A man has been shot after a Thornton home was peppered with bullets in Maitland’s second horrific shooting attack in just three days.
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About 20 shots were fired into the Deschamps Close home about midnight Sunday.
A 44-year-old man, who Fairfax Media understands was temporarily staying at the home, was treated by paramedics at the scene then rushed to John Hunter Hospital after he was shot in the leg.
His injuries were not life-threatening and he was discharged from hospital on Sunday.
The violent ambush follows another shooting attack in Maitland just three days before, when the Chisholm home of jailed Finks boss Andrew Manners was hit while his partner and child were inside.
About 20 bullets were fired into the Thornton residence with what neighbours said sounded like a semi-automatic weapon.
“It was just rapid gunfire,” one resident said. “I saw the flashes.
“It was so loud, I thought ‘s--- that’s close’.”
In similar circumstances to the Chisholm incident, it is understood that a child was inside the house at the time of the attack.
“It’s just horrible to think about,” a neighbour said.
“I feel for the women and children in this street,” another resident added. “What if there was a stray bullet? They can ricochet.”
A neighbour called the police after hearing the gunfire and said within 15 minutes about 40 officers were on scene.
“There were so many police here,” the resident said. “It was just crazy.”
The attack was the latest in of a string of public shootings across the Hunter in 2018. Of those attacks this is the first known incident in which a person has been shot.
Homes in Gillieston Heights and Tenambit have also come under fire in a tit-for-tat gang war, while the Nomads clubhouse was the target of a molotov cocktail attack in January.
In response to the escalating bikie violence, police established a strike force in February specifically designed to tackle the ongoing feud between rival gangs the Nomads and Finks in the Maitland area.
Northern Region operations manager Detective Superintendent Wayne Humphrey vowed the team, made up of highly trained detectives and bolstered with members from the State Crime Command’s Strike Force Raptor, would try to shatter the gangs’ “code of silence” that has obstructed police investigations.
“You have to tell us what’s going on,” he said. “Eventually someone close to you, or even someone innocent, could be badly injured or worse. It’s your behaviour and your activities that are causing this.”
