source : the age
The man shot dead on the footpath of a busy suburban road in Melbourne’s north overnight was the father of an associate of illicit tobacco kingpin Kaz Hamad, this masthead can reveal.
Elias Serevetas, 55, died outside a housing complex in Reservoir late on Tuesday. Police are investigating whether he was targeted as part of a fracture in Hamad’s organisation.
Grainy footage from a nearby business shows a dark SUV pulling up to a Mahoneys Road address in Reservoir about 11.50pm on Tuesday, and several men gathering on the footpath.
Nearby residents told this masthead they were woken by a volley of gunshots. The sound of the shots can be heard on CCTV from another nearby business. One bang, then another, and then several more in quick succession. Police arrived five minutes later.
One woman, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, said the gunfire woke her just before midnight, but the shooting did not surprise her.
“It’s Reservoir, there’s always drama here,” she said.
Police are investigating whether it was a targeted attack.
Serevetas’ son, George, known as “Snowman Adam”, was in 2024 charged with extorting a business owner in Glenroy for cash payments of $5000.
It is understood the case was withdrawn four months later, after witnesses withdrew their complaints, reportedly under intimidation from Hamad.
It is not known which side of the schism in Hamad’s organisation Elias Serevetas fell on, or why he may have been targeted specifically.
Police are also probing whether a burnt-out car found on Robinvale Avenue in nearby Thomastown shortly afterwards is linked to the shooting.
The offenders left the scene of the car fire in a white-coloured vehicle, police said.
Homicide squad detectives remain in Reservoir at the scene of the shooting. No arrests have been made.
Mahoneys Road was closed in both directions overnight but has since re-opened.
There have been at least five shootings in Melbourne over the last two weeks.
On October 13, shots were fired into a home in Caroline Springs. The following day, a road-rage incident turned into a drive-by shooting in Tullamarine.
On October 15, a man was shot dead, execution-style, at his front door in Wollert, while three days later, two men were critically injured in a shooting in Dallas.
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Alexander Darling is a breaking news reporter at The Age. He has previously worked at the ABC, as well as Horsham’s Wimmera Mail-Times and Triple M radio stations in NSW.Connect via email.
