Reservoir shooting victim ‘lured’ to his death as police probe links to Kaz Hamad

A man was lured from a home in Melbourne’s north and shot dead, with police investigating links to the crime gang of illicit tobacco kingpin Kaz Hamad.

Elias Serevetas, 55, walked up the driveway of a unit complex on Mahoneys Road in Reservoir late on Tuesday to attend a meeting, but was confronted by a lone offender who jumped out of a stolen black Lexus SUV.

Homicide squad Detective Inspector Leigh Howse said Serevetas was shot several times in the upper body in what they were treating as a targeted attack.

Howse said the Lexus was found burnt out on Robinvale Avenue in nearby Thomastown a short time later, with the offender leaving in a white Toyota Corolla hatchback.

He said a car matching that description then evaded a police attempt to pull it over before being abandoned in Dakota Drive, in Thomastown.

“Police are appealing for information from members of the public in regards to this crime, which would have involved a lot of planning and preparation,” Howse said.

“Although it involved only one lone offender who committed the actual act, others would have specific knowledge of who orchestrated and commissioned this incident.”

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 which can be heard on CCTV from another nearby business.

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.

Howse confirmed the dead man was known to police and police were probing links to Hamad’s criminal syndicate.

“He had links into serious and organised crime entities and networks, and that’s forming a focal point of the investigation at this point,” he said.

Serevetas’ son, George, known as “Snowman Adam”, was in 2024 charged with extorting a tobacco store owner in Glenroy on behalf of Hamad’s crime gang for cash payments of $5000.

Elias Serevetas gave evidence at a bail application for his son, saying the pair argued regularly about George’s drug use and that he wanted him to go to rehab so he didn’t “lose him”.

But police told the court Elias had a “significant” criminal history, which included time in prison, and lived in an unkempt house filled with rubbish and a gunshot hole clearly visible in the front window.

The extortion case against George was withdrawn four months later, after witnesses withdrew their complaints, reportedly under intimidation from Hamad.

However, earlier this month he was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order after using gift card data he obtained in a data leak to spend $90,000 at places including JB Hi-Fi and Bunnings.

The court heard that when George was just three, his father was jailed for 18 months, and he was told he was a “bad man” and forbidden to have contact with him. They finally reconnected when he was aged 19.

It is not known why Elias Serevetas may have been targeted specifically.

The 55-year-old was himself due to face court in Collingwood on Wednesday over driving offences dating back to January, with the magistrate told the case was being withdrawn “for a fairly obvious reason”.

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.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.