Sydney, Dec 5 A major police operation has been launched after multiple gunshots were fired outside a shopping center in southwest Sydney on Friday morning.
A statement from the police force in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) said that emergency services were called to reports of shots fired outside a gym at a shopping center in Gregory Hills, 45 km southwest of central Sydney, at around 8:35 am local time on Friday.
Police officers arrived and found that a number of shots had been fired at a man who subsequently left the scene, Xinhua News Agency reported.
NSW Police said that two males armed with firearms were seen at the scene and dressed in black clothing with face coverings.
There were no reported injuries.
Two witnesses told Nine Entertainment radio that they heard up to 10 gunshots and that members of the public sheltered in nearby businesses.
A large police presence was deployed to the shopping center where a crime scene was established, and investigations into the incident commenced.
In a separate incident, earlier on Wednesday, a man died and two others were hospitalised following a shooting at a property in eastern Australia.
Police in the state of New South Wales (NSW) said in a statement that emergency services were alerted to the shooting in the small town of Eungella, over 640 km northeast of Sydney near the border with the state of Queensland, at around 1:25 pm local time on Wednesday.
Officers arrived and were told that two men, aged 38 and 41, had been shot by another man who subsequently fled the scene with a fourth man.
The 41-year-old was treated by ambulance paramedics but died at the scene, while the 38-year-old sought treatment at a hospital for a gunshot wound.
Emergency services were then called to a second incident nearby after a 45-year-old man was hit by a car. He was taken to the hospital under police guard.
NSW Police said that officers are waiting to speak to the two hospitalised men to establish the circumstances of how both were injured and are also working to locate a fourth man, believed to be aged 37.
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