An 11-year-old boy has been taken to hospital in a serious condition after being shot in a home in Sydney’s north-west.
The child was receiving life-saving treatment in hospital on Monday night after suffering gunshot wounds to his face and neck, police said.
Three men, all aged 18, were arrested – on Tuesday morning, police advised two were later released pending further inquiries.
The third man has been charged with concealing a serious indictable offence.
The boy was found injured at about 5pm at a unit on Fairway Drive, Norwest, after emergency services arrived in response to reports of a shooting at the property.
Paramedics treated the boy at the scene before taking him to hospital.
Initial reports indicated the shots were fired from within the home.
Speaking a few hours after the incident, Supt Naomi Moore said four 18-year-old men and a 44-year-old woman had been inside the unit at the time, all of whom were unharmed and were assisting with the investigation.
Moore said while the investigation was just starting, police had no information to suggest the incident was related to organised crime.
There have been at least six suspected mistaken-identity shootings in Sydney since the start of last year.
Last week, two teenage boys were charged with murder after the recent shooting death of a university student in Sydney, which police say was a case of mistaken identity.
Moore assured people in the community who were “fearful on the streets at the moment” that police did not believe Monday’s shooting in Norwood was related to organised crime.
Police were investigating how the gun came to be in the house, as there were no firearms registered to that address, she said.
Moore said she was not sure what type of gun had been used, or where the weapon was located.
“In terms of what happened in that apartment, it is far too early for me to say right now,” she said.
“[But] we have all sorts of resources down there … to ensure that we do get to the bottom of what happened in that unit tonight.”
Police had established an “expansive” crime scene as investigations into the incident continued.
“It’s a tragic situation with an 11-year-old child suffering this injury,” Moore said.
“The mother is with the child at the moment – she is as distressed as any parent would be about what she is dealing with at the moment.”
The man will appear in Blacktown court on Tuesday.
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