A man shot dead in a suspected gangland attack in Sydney’s northwest has been identified as former UFC fighter Suman Mokhtarian, whose family came to Australia from Iran as refugees.
Mokhtarian, 33, was gunned down while walking through the suburb of Riverstone at about 6pm on Wednesday in a horrific daylight shooting that took place as children were riding their bikes around the quiet residential street.
Local mum Natalie Hopwood told news.com.au she was in front of her house with her kids when the shooting took place, and said: ” was terrified, my little girl was right out near the end of my driveway when it happened, so it was pretty scary.”
Also on Wednesday Fijian man Roni Korovou-Tokaduadua, 27, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder over an alleged drive-by shooting at a home belonging to the mother of violent Lebanese cocaine dealer Raymond Frangieh, 45, in July.
Frangieh’s father Sayed was killed in a drive-by shooting at then-family home in Merrylands in 2003 that was aimed at Raymond. Asian crime figure Ken Tan was jailed for manslaughter for ordering the attack, but the two Pacific Islander gunmen were never brought to justice.
The deadly shooting and arrest came a day after aboriginal men Greall Tighe and Kevin Mundine were arrested along with Pacific Islander Tyrone Tuiluga Rio while allegedly on their way to carry out a gangland execution for a Vietnamese crime syndicate at a childcare centre in Revesby in the city’s southwest.
NSW Police Superintendent Jason Joyce of Riverstone Police Area Command said the killing of Mokhtarian was a “brazen” targeted attack, and that two cars were set on fire minutes later nearby.
“It’s a shame that this is happening in our community. You’d want to think that in a residential area that people could wander the streets at that time of night and be safe, but we do believe it’s a targeted attack,” he said.
“My heart goes out to the family of this victim, and certainly any of the people that witnessed it, it would have been a horrific thing to witness, and it’s certainly not something we tolerate in the community.”
Mokhtarian survived a previous assassination attempt in February 2024 by a gunman disguised as an Uber Eats driver, and in April this year police cancelled an MMA fight over concerns he would be targeted by contract killers at the event.
The promoter of that event, fellow fighter Farhood Khalatbar, was also targeted in a shooting at Cecil Hills last Friday, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Mokhtarian owned an MMA gym in Wentworthville with brother Ashkan, who also fought in the UFC before his career was derailed by his criminal offending. The brothers previously spoke about being left homeless when their Iranian refugee parents divorced.
Sydney crime news Instagram account SCN WorldStar shared a text message exchange with Mokhtarian where he talked about threats on his life and joked about posting better photos “to make sure people have a good image” when he’s dead.
The same account said on Thursday that underworld sources claimed Mokhtrarian was targeted by a notorious Middle Eastern crime family for stealing $6 million.
Header image: Left, Suman Mokhtarian (Facebook). Right, the scene of the shooting (Nine News).
The post Iranian MMA fighter shot dead in front of families as ethnic gang violence rocks Sydney first appeared on The Noticer.
The Noticer
