Melbourne Police said they are still looking for the suspect who killed a father-of-five in a drive-by shooting on Westwood Drive in Ravenhall in February.
Police believed it may have been a case of mistaken identity as police probe whether bikie gangs or community groups were involved in the crime “gone wrong”.
Deer Park man Ikenasio Tuivasa, 33, known to family and friends as ‘Sio’ was standing outside the All Star Lounge on Westwood Drive in Ravenhall with his two younger brothers, cousins and family friends, when he was shot dead by a moving vehicle just before midnight on February 27 this year, 9News reports.
“Investigators have been told a Toyota Hilux SR5 ute approached the group and stopped on the roadway, with a passenger calling out in Tongan language to gain their attention, before producing a gun and “firing a number of shots”, it said.
Sio died from his injuries and a 24-year-old Endeavour Hills man who was standing nearby was also injured.
The ute then sped away towards Ballarat Road and was last seen travelling on the Western Highway towards Rockbank, in the city’s west.
Despite “extensive enquiries”, Homicide Squad detectives are yet to establish a clear motive for the shooting, prompting theories of mistaken identity in a feud between bikie gangs or Pacific Islander groups.
“Homicide detectives have made extensive enquiries into Mr Tuivasa’s background, along with the other people who were present that night and found no discernible motive for the crime,” Detective Inspector Tim Day said.
“There is nothing in his background that suggests that he would have been targeted.
“They’ve either mucked it up targeting the wrong group, or fired indiscriminately into the crowd.”
Police have identified a number of other altercations leading up to the shooting involving Pacific Islander community members near the billiards lounge and other similar venues in Melbourne’s north.
