Australian gangs: Comancheros bikie shot in the face

From left: Kyle Leofa, Tarek Zahed, Allan Meehan and another associate. Photo / Instagram, @theallanmeehan.

A Comanchero bikie gang member who was recently pictured with some of the club's most notorious figures has been shot in the face.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kyle Leofa was taken to the Mater Hospital in South Brisbane with facial injuries and is currently in a stable condition.

The shooting took place just hours after another man linked to the Comancheros was stabbed to death outside a gym in a nearby Brisbane suburb.

There is no suggestion that Leofa's shooting is linked to that murder, or that the men featured in the photo were involved in any way.

According to the Courier Mail, police believe the attacks show signs of escalating tensions between two Middle Eastern crime groups.

The latest shooting happened under a month after Leofa was photographed alongside the national president of the Comancheros, Allan Meehan.

The picture, which was shared by Meehan in a now-deleted post on Instagram, also marked the first photo of Comanchero kingpin Tarek Zahed after he was shot 10 times in an assassination attempt that killed his brother, Omar Zahed.

Police believe Leofa's shooting is connected to an alleged disturbance which occurred at a carpark on 2912 Logan Road, Underwood at about 7pm on Monday, local time.

Investigators believe the incident occurred as a group of unknown males were filming a video, when they were approached by two vehicles, one containing Leofa. Queensland police (QPS) are appealing for "anyone who may have seen this incident or who has dash camera footage or CCTV, particularly in the Underwood area of Logan Road and Kingston Road" to contact police.

The QPS established Operation Dagobah to spearhead investigations into incidents between two rival groups.

Shooting comes hours after stabbing

On Monday 23-year-old Levi Johnson was stabbed to death outside a Goodlife Health Club in Brisbane's eastern suburb of Carindale. The incident occurred at around 1pm on the corner of Creek and Pine Mountain Rds.

Johnston was stabbed multiple times after his car was cut off in the driveway of the gym before four men used a crowbar to smash into his car. Although Johnston attempted to run away, he was chased by two of the four men involved in the suspected attack.

As of Wednesday, police were still on the hunt for two men, who they believe are linked to the "not well-known or well-established" 13 Kings gang.

According to the Courier Mail, Johnson is believed to be known by the Comanchero bikie gang, however, he was not a "patched" member.

Both incidents are currently being investigated by Operation Dagobah, which aims to target acts of violence among two rival criminal networks.

The initiative is a collaboration between officers from the Crime and Intelligence Commands' Organised Crime Squad and Gangs Group, and Brisbane and South Eastern regions, and is supported by specialist resources from Operations Support Command.