The gunshot sent shockwaves through an otherwise unremarkable Lake Heights neighbourhood.
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About 8.30pm on Wednesday, September 28, last year the sound shattered the quiet of Barina Avenue, followed minutes later by the whine of police and ambulance sirens.
Inside a tidy red-brick home, Saso Ristevski lay dying - his parents witnessed the shooting that would claim their son.
Paramedics attempted to revive the 37-year-old, however he died a short time later.
Today, on the anniversary of Ristevski's brutal shooting death, police have made a new appeal for information about the murder, as well as the suspicious disappearance of Unanderra man Goran Nikolovski and the shooting death of former Comanchero motorcycle gang member Darko Janceski.
Strike Force Calligan investigators, led by the homicide squad, have revealed they believe the three incidents are linked.
"These three men were all known to each other and shared a number of associates," lead investigator Detective Inspector Dave Laidlaw said.
"There are people out there who know who targeted these men and why. We urge them to come forward."
Ristevski, a University of Wollongong commerce graduate and convicted drug trafficker, had been on parole for just over a year when a confrontation with three unknown men at the Lake Heights home of his parents turned violent, resulting in his shooting death.
Investigators can now reveal a witness saw the offenders running from the scene shortly after hearing the fatal gunshot.
Just a month later, on the evening of Monday, October 31, 35-year-old Nikolovski was last seen driving away from his Unanderra home.
His grey Honda Accord was found burnt out at Macquarie Pass early the following day.
Nikolovski has not been seen or heard from since.
Detectives want to speak to anyone who may have seen Nikolovski after he left his home that Monday night.
Last November the Mercury revealed Ristevski and Nikolovski were former friends who were both busted in January 2004 for trafficking a half-kilo stash of cocaine.
The Illawarra was the scene of another murder in April when, in broad daylight, Darko Janceski, 32, was gunned down outside his parents' Gannet Avenue home in Berkeley by a man on a trail bike.
Janceski's father witnessed the shooting and confronted the rider, but was assaulted and suffered serious facial injuries.
The rider's handgun, helmet and sunglasses were knocked to the ground and were seized by police for forensic examination.
The trail bike, a blue Yamaha WR450, was found burnt several days later near the Nan Tien Temple.
Inquiries found it had been sold in March and detectives have since spoken to a number of people.
The Mercury understands Janceski was a disenfranchised member of the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang and that he had left the group on bad terms last year.
Anyone with information, treated strictly confidentially, should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page.