Gunman on the run after cafe shooting in Sydney. Source: Sky News Australia
A manjunt continues today for a gunman who shot a lawyer dead at point-blank range in Sydney's west.
Ho Ledinh, believed to be aged in his 60s and a father-of-three, was gunned down execution-style at a table outside the Happy Cup Cafe at Bankstown City Plaza on yesterday afternoon.
Ledinh was treated by paramedics, but died at the scene.
Ledinh had spent time with a friend in the hours before he died.
CCTV footage, thought to be of the shooter, showed a man wearing a hi-vis jacket walking through Bankstown's Old Centre Plaza. The footage was seized by police soon after the brazen attack.
Acting Superintendent Brad Thorne said the shooting was believed to be a "targeted" attack.
It wasn't one the victim's friend, Van Nguyen, 59, ever saw coming.
Nguyen had met his friend for coffee at the cafe just hours earlier. By mid-afternoon, the cafe was a crime scene, and he was standing by the taped-off area wiping tears from his eyes.
"I couldn't believe it ... I just met with him this morning," Nguyen said. "We were texting and he said 'come meet me for coffee'".
The pair met at the cafe, in Bankstown's 'Saigon Place', for a catch-up late yesterday morning, according to Nguyen. He said his friend was in good spirits, albeit concerned about a heart condition he had been seeking treatment for.
The suspected shooter is seen in bright green on CCTV footage.
Nguyen told news.com.au that he wasn't previously aware of any threats to his friend's life or related concerns. "He was a good man, perfect," Nguyen said.
"He was an international lawyer who travelled the world. We were friends for 25 years. Best friends.
"His job was horrible because he make some people happy and some not happy. Good money but, you know."
It's understood Ledinh's young wife and their three children left recently for Vietnam. A friend told media the couple met at the same cafe he was killed in, which he is believed to part own.
It was his second marriage and he is said to have adored her and their children.
Witnesses described hearing shots and screams, and seeing Ledinh lying in a pool of blood as terrified bystanders sprinted away.
Lawyer Ho Ledinh was having a coffee when he was shot dead.
Graphic footage has emerged of him lying on the ground after he was shot.
One witness, who didn't want to be named, told news.com.au that the gunman "just pulled the gun and shot it" without saying a word.
"(The victim) was just sitting at a table and the man pulled out a gun and went 'boom, boom, boom'."
Bankstown local Lisa Lee, 50, was at a cafe next door and heard "about three gunshots".
"I ducked under the table then ran to the back of the cafe in the toilets," she said. "When I came out the (victim) was lying on the ground.
"He wasn't moving, there was blood all around him."
A bystander says police took 15 minutes to get to the scene.
Bystander Mathew Gibson, 44, was dropping his son at training when he "saw about 55 people running one way (towards Bankstown train station) and about 500 people running the opposite way".
"They were shook up," he told news.com.au. "The police took 15 minutes to get here and they are (based) only around the corner."
A witness across the road said he heard three shots, but thought they were firecrackers. Then he saw the victim, who had been sitting outside, lying on the ground.
Ledinh is survived by his wife and three children.
Officers are sifting through CCTV footage and speaking to witnesses to work out who the attacker was. "We have varying accounts that we want to confirm," Supt Thorne said.
In June 2017, a man was stabbed in the chest in the same plaza. In April 2016, gangland kingpin Walid 'Wally' Ahmad was killed in a spray of bullets outside a cafe on the rooftop of nearby Bankstown Central shopping centre.
