Image: NSW Police vehicle in Sydney. Photo by ZP 64, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Teen accused of firing 30 shots at Sydney funeral venue as gang feud spills back onto the street
A 17-year-old boy and a 23-year-old man have been charged over a daylight shooting at a Punchbowl function centre that police say was wrongly targeted as the wake venue for slain Sydney crime figure Lorenzo Lemalu.
The shooting happened on Saturday afternoon in Sydney’s south-west. Police were called after gunfire was reported at the venue, which had been advertised as the place where mourners would gather for Lemalu, the alleged head of the so-called Coconut Cartel. No one was reported injured.
By Tuesday afternoon, detectives were putting a harder shape around the case. Police allege the teenager was the gunman and fired close to 30 rounds from a vehicle at the premises. A 23-year-old man, Ronald Samuel Donovan, was also charged after police searches at Airds and Busby allegedly turned up ammunition.
The funeral plans had already shifted. Instead of the Punchbowl venue, the memorial went ahead at Lakemba Mosque on Sunday under a heavy police presence. That change may have spared Sydney a far worse scene. Police say the people expected to attend the wake were the intended targets because of their connection to Lemalu.
Lemalu was shot dead in Ho Chi Minh City on May 21. His killing has been treated as part of the same ugly underworld weather system that has pushed Sydney police into rolling operations, funeral security, and retaliatory shooting investigations across the city.
The alleged Punchbowl attack carries the hallmarks of the new Sydney gangland problem: young men, hired violence, social media bravado, and a dangerous lack of discipline. According to police, footage of the shooting helped investigators identify those allegedly involved. Detectives said the footage showed a reckless disregard for whoever might have been inside the building.
The teenager was arrested during a vehicle stop at Picnic Point on Monday afternoon. He was charged with offences including firing a firearm at a dwelling in organised crime activity, damaging property by fire or explosive, and participating in a criminal group. He was refused bail and was due to face a children’s court on Tuesday.
Donovan was charged with firing a firearm at a premises, disregarding safety, and participating in a criminal group. He was also refused bail and was due to face court on Tuesday.
Police are still looking for another person they believe assisted the alleged gunman and getaway driver. Detective Superintendent Jason Box warned that the suspects now faced two pressures: the courts, and the criminal networks they allegedly acted for.
It is the wrong-venue detail that cuts through the usual gangland fog. A function centre was sprayed with bullets because someone believed a rival’s mourners would be there. That no one was hurt was luck, not restraint. In a city used to hearing that shootings are “targeted”, Punchbowl showed how thin that comfort really is when rounds are fired into buildings in broad daylight.
Sources: ABC News report published June 9, 2026; NSW Police statements as reported by ABC News.
