Updated September 10, 2026 — 9:21am,first published 6:35pmCrime is not out of control in Sydney and people being murdered on the streets is part and parcel of life in the city, senior police have said after three fatal shootings in an eight-day period.The killings have included an innocent man being shot dead in his bed and another being killed in a duplex doorway with two children inside.Despite the recent spate of shootings, NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Grant Taylor said on Thursday morning the city is dealing with its usual number of deaths.NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Grant Taylor at a 2024 press conference.Nine“It always looks like crime is out of control, but when you look at it, we’re on track,” he said.“We always have about eight organised crime murders a year. We’ve had six, and then last night made seven.“It’s always going to be part and parcel of life in a big metropolis; this is no different.”Boxing coach Louis Meehan, 32, was shot dead in an ambush in Sydney’s south-west on Wednesday, in what police believe is another targeted attack linked to organised crime.He was killed behind his boxing gym in the car park of the Punchbowl Community Centre, sprayed with gunfire by an assailant inside a silver Lexus sedan.Louis Meehan has been shot dead in the latest attack linked to Sydney’s gangland violence.Janie BarrettPolice rushed to the car park, administering urgent CPR to Meehan, while two onlookers knelt to pray before he was pronounced dead.Meehan was walking alone when he was shot beside a white sedan at the entry of the car park, which was full at the time of the attack.Onlookers, including multiple school students, watched on from the edge of the car park as paramedics worked to save him.Meehan has posed online wearing merchandise linked to the Alameddine crime gang. This includes clothing from Proper 60, a Merrylands-based group associated with the family, and Ready 4 War, the name of the Alameddine network’s drug-trafficking operation.Meehan was killed near the entry to the carpark.Janie BarrettA silver Lexus believed to have been used as the getaway car was recovered about nine kilometres from the scene of the shooting in Bass Hill by Raptor Squad officers late on Wednesday and is being forensically examined.Campsie Police Area Commander Dean Johnstone confirmed Meehan was known to police.“This is a callous act,” he said. “We do not believe that other persons were at risk. However, obviously, in a public place like this, those actions cannot be tolerated.”Johnstone said police had no information to suggest Meehan’s life was in immediate danger, or that any underworld contract had been taken out for his murder.Taylor said despite Meehan’s links to outlaw motorcycle gangs – possibly the reason he was killed – his shooting differed from recent underworld shootings. Police believe the shooter acted alone, and the recovered getaway car had not been torched.“It’s intact and we hope to think we’ll get some good forensics as a result,” Taylor said.Desperate paramedics attempted to save Meehan.SCN WorldStarMeehan, the son of former Australian boxing great Kali Meehan, played for the Sydney Roosters’ National Youth Competition side alongside brother Willis in 2013 before turning to full-time boxing coaching.He was a senior coach on the ‘Meehan Boxing Team’, a family-run business that conducted personal training sessions and boxing classes. His brothers are also involved in the business.His younger brother, boxer Isaac Meehan, posted an online tribute to Louis on Thursday morning.Isaac Meehan’s tribute to his older brother the morning after he was shot and killed in Sydney’s south-west.InstagramThe Punchbowl Community Centre car park sits one block behind The Boulevarde, a busy high street adjacent to Punchbowl train station.It is on the same road as St Jerome’s Catholic Primary School and St Jerome’s Catholic Church.The street was roped off and blocked by marked and unmarked cars as police expanded the crime scene to gather evidence on Wednesday night.An expanded crime scene has been set up outside the community centre in Punchbowl. Janie BarrettThe Punchbowl shooting comes two days after the Minns government announced a suite of measures targeting an outbreak of gangland violence on Sydney’s streets.The measures were flagged in response to last week’s mistaken identity killings of university student Marco Tapia, 23, and business owner Joshua Macdonald, 40, in the city’s west.The reforms promised tighter targeting of offshore kingpins and local middlemen orchestrating violent attacks and tougher penalties for teenagers carrying out gang-related shootings and firebombings.It marked the NSW government’s third significant crackdown on organised crime in two years and came days after the police minister denied authorities had lost control of escalating violence.A stoush between the NSW and federal Labor governments has opened over claims of inaction on Interpol red notices targeting figures connected to Sydney’s underworld who have fled overseas. The federal government insists NSW failed to provide all the required documentation needed to work with international partners.Conflict between the Alameddine crime family and Coconut Cartel has sparked an escalation in underworld violence in recent years, as the warring organised crime syndicates jostle for control of Sydney’s lucrative drug trade.Powerbrokers for both of the groups are living overseas, where they’re believed to be orchestrating criminal activities in Sydney while out of reach of Australian police. Asked on Monday if community fears were justified following last week’s shootings, Premier Chris Minns said: “We do think there’s a problem.”“There [is] a disregard for human life I haven’t really seen before,” he said. “It’s been a regrettable and horrible part of life in Sydney.”It followed Police Minister Yasmin Catley’s insistence last week that the violence was not “out of control”.Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane referenced Catley’s comments following the Punchbowl shooting on Wednesday, writing on X: “Another deadly shooting in Sydney – the 3rd in a week. This time in front of a community centre. Do you still have things under control police minister Catley?”Innocent men Marco Tapia, 23, and Joshua Macdonald were killed a day apart last week in what police say were cases of mistaken identity.Sloane continued applying political pressure on Thursday morning, telling 2GB “something is deeply wrong in Sydney”.“It’s time for the blame game between Canberra and Sydney to stop … can we get these criminals home for the sake of all the innocent civilians who are seeing too much violence on Sydney’s streets?”Tapia was killed last Tuesday morning after a group of home invaders stormed his family’s Glen Alpine home before executing him in his bed.He was in his third year of a biomedical engineering degree at the University of Technology Sydney, and his only brush with the law was through a minor traffic offence.Macdonald was shot dead in the doorway of a Merrylands West duplex home the next day. CCTV footage outside the home showed a grey Audi sedan stopping outside the house before an assassin fires shots from the back passenger seat.Macdonald, who didn’t live at the home, was arriving at the duplex with a resident and two children moments before he was shot. The owners of the Bruce Street residence, who do not live at the property, are known to police and linked to organised crime.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.Daniel Lo Surdo is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously helmed the national news live blog for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.Perry Duffin is a crime reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.Jack Gramenz is a breaking news reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.Riley Walter is a crime reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners