Authorities believe multiple attackers entered a home in Glen Alpine, near Campbelltown in Sydney's southwest, about 3.40am on Tuesday and shot the victim dead before fleeing the scene.
Emergency services found the victim, believed to be in his early 20s, with a gunshot wound at the home and could not save him.
Police confirmed the man's family were in the home at the time of the attack.
The unknown offenders remain on the run, as an alleged underworld identity suggested in a social media post that the attackers had ''popped the wrong person''.
Acting Superintendent Gretchen Atkins said in a media conference on Tuesday morning that police were treating the incident as a targeted attack.
Asked whether the killers were mistaken in their target, Act Supt Atkins said it was too early in detectives' investigations to establish that.
The victim was not known to police for anything more than a traffic offence, she said.
''A young man has lost his life today, and that's obviously just tragic," she said.
"There were family who were home, and as I said, they're assisting us and being very, very helpful,'' she said.
An exiled, alleged co-founder of criminal network Coconut Cartel posted to Instagram little more than an hour after the shooting.
''Popped the wrong person. Didn't even get the right house,'' Iziah Utai wrote.
On Saturday, Utai posted a video dancing with a gun in the aftermath of non-fatal shooting of Emad Alameddine.
Mr Alameddine was a relative of alleged crime figure Bilal Alameddine and was shot in South Granville on Saturday evening.
The Alameddine network, a notorious crime family, and the Coconut Cartel, an emerging crime-for-hire network, have allegedly become embroiled in a feud, spilling into shootings across Sydney in recent months.
Act Supt Atkins said she was aware of the social media posts and suggested everything was under consideration.
She urged the local community to assist police.
''Any small piece of information is what we may get the break that we're actually looking for. At this point in time we don't have that information,'' she said.
A report into the young man's death will be prepared for the information of the coroner.
Sydney has seen several alleged mistaken-identity criminal incidents in recent times.
In February, 85-year-old grandfather Chris Baghsarian was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by people who had the wrong target. Some 11 people have been charged in relation to the incident.
In May 2025, innocent Condell Park plumber John Versace was executed in his driveway in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity.
16°C