Boxing coach’s shooting death not linked to gang feud, but police probe bikie links
The fatal shooting of boxing coach Louis Meehan in Sydney’s south-west is not linked to recent suspected contract killings or the ongoing feud between the Alameddine family and “Coconut Cartel”, police believe.
Instead, they are investigating the 32-year-old’s potential connection to outlaw motorcycle gangs in Queensland.
Louis Meehan, 32, was shot dead in a Punchbowl carpark. Instagram
“He’s known to us ... he’s known to the Queensland Police service,” Acting NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Grant Taylor said, noting it did appear Meehan had links to a bikie gang, but the nature of those links were still unclear.
“It’s not impossible that’s why he was killed,” he said, adding that he “wasn’t on the radar” of NSW Police prior to the shooting.
Emergency services were called to the car park of a community centre on Rossmore Avenue in Punchbowl about 5.50pm on Wednesday after reports of a shooting.
They found Meehan with multiple gunshot wounds and tried to save him before paramedics took over and declared him dead at the scene.
Police believe Meehan, who was leaving a gym, was approached by a lone shooter, who fled the scene afterwards in a stolen silver Lexus sedan.
It is believed the shooter called out Meehan’s name before opening fire.
The sedan was recovered in Bass Hill overnight, intact and not burnt out.
Acting Superintendent Dean Johnstone said the man was known to police.
Sydney has been rocked by a string of public gang shootings, but the superintendent refused to speculate about whether the victim had any links to organised crime.
But he said the shooting appeared to have been carried out by one person.
“This shooting does not have the same hallmarks as other shootings that have occurred in the past several months,” Taylor said.
Johnstone said the shooting was a “callous act” that could easily have endangered other people.
“We believe this was a targeted attack, but we do not believe that other persons were at risk,” he said.
“However, obviously in a public place like this, those actions cannot be tolerated as it potentially endangered innocent members of the community.”
Acting Superintendent Dean Johnstone addresses the media after a shooting in Punchbowl. 9News
“We will identify the offenders and we will put them before the court.”
Witnesses say they heard two shots, and that a black car was seen fleeing the area.
A group of children were inside the Punchbowl Community Centre taking a maths and English tutorial at the time of the shooting.
“My heart’s racing right now. My whole body is numb,” one parent said.
“Knowing that my daughter was right there. Not only my daughter, a dozen other kids.”
And worshippers were attending a Mass at a church just across the road.
“I came into church to worship our Lord in this parish and then I heard these shots, and just was, you know, very overwhelming,” one parishioner said.
It is not known if the shooting is related to another in the same suburb last week, where several shots were fired at a unit.
It is the latest in a number of recent shootings in Sydney as police fear the escalation of gangland violence.
Last week, two innocent people – 23-year-old student Marco Tapia and 40-year-old business owner Joshua Macdonald – were shot dead in Glen Alpin and Merrylands West.
Taylor said while it appeared violent crime was spiking, it was actually in line with the annual average.
He said police in Sydney dealt with an average of eight underworld murders a year, with last night’s shooting of Meehan bringing the 2026 tally up to seven.
“We are basically on track to what we always have in regards to these murders,” he said.
“It’s always going to be part and parcel of life in a big metropolis.”
The recent killings prompted a crackdown from the NSW government, which has proposed life sentences for those planning to commit gangland hits, and adult time for teenagers accused of taking part in gang crimes.
“This is immoral, evil behaviour, and we’re determined to stop it,” Premier Chris Minns said.
“We want to hit these criminal networks at every point – the people who organise the violence, the people who facilitate it online and the people who ultimately carry it out.
“If you conspire to arrange a gangland murder, you should face the prospect of spending the rest of your life behind bars.”
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