Police investigating shooting at Sydney home in Australia

Sydney, July 3 (IANS) Australia's Sydney police are investigating after gunshots were fired into a home in the city's inner-west and a suspected getaway car was set on fire.

A police statement on Thursday said that officers were called to the suburb of Concord, 10 km west of central Sydney, at around 1:10 a.m. following reports of shots fired at a house.

Officers attended the scene and found damage to the home consistent with a projectile. Nobody was inside the property at the time of the shooting, and there were no reported injuries, reports Xinhua news agency.

A short time later, emergency services were called to reports of a car fire in the neighbouring suburb of Burwood. The fire was extinguished, but the car was destroyed.

Initial inquiries have led police to believe that the two incidents are linked.

Officers established a crime scene at the house and have commenced an investigation into the incident, including whether the house involved was the intended target of the shooting.

It comes after police on Wednesday charged a 15-year-old boy over two separate shootings in western Sydney in March and April, respectively.

In the March shooting, at least 28 rounds were fired from a semi-automatic rifle into a house, narrowly missing a child's head, and in April, 15 shots were fired from a handgun into a unit.

Nobody was injured in either incident. Police said it is believed that the first property was mistakenly targeted, and the second was targeted due to the resident's relationship with an alleged member of an organised crime gang.

Both incidents were referred to a police taskforce established in May to investigate and suppress violent crimes in Sydney linked to organised crime, which identified the 15-year-old male.

He was arrested on Wednesday and charged with two counts of firing a firearm at a dwelling and participating in a criminal group.

--IANS

int/sd/