Police officers among 4 injured following Sydney shootings

Sydney, April 23 (IANS/GURPUNEET SIDHU) Two police officers are among four people who have been treated for injuries following separate shootings in western Sydney.

Police said on Thursday that the first incident occurred at around 8:40 p.m. on Wednesday (local time) when officers in the suburb of Punchbowl, 16 km southwest of central Sydney, spotted a car that had been reported stolen.

An officer approached the car to arrest the driver when it stopped in traffic, but the driver accelerated and pinned the 39-year-old man between two vehicles.

The officer fired his weapon at the vehicle before it left the scene. Ambulance paramedics attended and took him to the hospital in a stable condition with lower leg injuries, reports Xinhua news agency.

The alleged driver of the stolen vehicle, a 32-year-old man, was found with a gunshot wound in the yard of a home a short time later and hospitalised under police guard.

Hours later, police said that emergency services were deployed at 11:30 p.m. to Chester Hill, 19 km west of central Sydney, following reports that several shots had been fired from one vehicle into another.

Both vehicles left the scene, but police were notified that a 26-year-old man had presented to a nearby hospital with gunshot wounds minutes later.

A vehicle with several bullet holes was located at the hospital, and police attempted to speak to a 30-year-old man in the emergency department when he allegedly assaulted an officer, who was treated for a laceration to his head after being repeatedly punched.

The 26-year-old shooting victim was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition, and the 30-year-old was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer executing their duty.

Police established several crime scenes and have commenced investigations into both shootings.

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