POLICE have laid a series of charges in the wake of a spate of western Sydney shootings, one of which involved the murder of a man last year.
NSW Police say a split in the Brothers 4 Life crime gang is behind the violence that culminated this week with what they described as their worst fear: the shooting of an innocent bystander.
Less than three days after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly caught in crossfire and hit in the back, police announced on Thursday they had arrested 10 gang members including the "de facto leader" of Brothers 4 Life.
Six members, all in their 20s, are in custody in relation to two shootings last year.
Five had been charged by 1.30pm (AEDT), most notably a 28-year-old Revesby Heights man charged with the murder of 27-year-old Yehyah Amood, who died in Greenacre after being gunned down on October 14 last year.
The accused was due to appear in Bankstown Local Court on Thursday.
A 32-year-old man was also shot in the attack but survived.
That incident came after a 27-year-old man was found shot in the leg in Yagoona on October 8.
The other four gang members were arrested over a shooting in Bankstown on Thursday which left two men injured.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says indications that police have broken the back of Brothers 4 Life will be met with "a wave of relief across the city".
"I'm delighted if this means that the targeted shootings that we have seen in recent times have come to an end," he said.
The premier declined to confirm reports the government is considering a mandatory five-year jail term targeting gang members in possession of firearms.
NSW Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas says "internal conflict" had made many of the victims targets.
"It's difficult to classify it as one type of conflict - whether it's a power struggle or people simply being offended about something that's been said, and acting in a quite irrational way by shooting someone instead of arguing," he said.
"It's probably a combination of three or four factors that led to the conflict."
Police later said they had charged a sixth Brothers 4 Life member, the last of the ten men arrested earlier on Thursday.
The 24-year-old from Auburn has been charged with discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in relation to the two 2012 shootings.
He will appear at Bankstown Local Court on Thursday.
