A 19-year-old African man is accused of murdering his 20-year-old friend in Melbourne’s south-east overnight.
Emergency services were called to Springvale Road, Springvale, following reports of a shooting behind a Shisha Café just before midnight.
Police said Winis Apet, 20, suffered a single gunshot to his chest, which was allegedly fired from arm’s length.
Mr Apet begged for help as he bled out on the footpath, and died at the scene.
This afternoon, detectives arrested Paguir Pan at a property in Dandenong in front of his parents and charged him with one count of murder.
His matter was heard in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this afternoon, but he refused to come into the dock because he felt unwell.
The 19-year-old made no application for bail but did request a custody nurse.
He will remain in the remand centre until his next court appearance on Wednesday.
The family told 9News Mr Apet and Mr Pan grew up together, and that they may have been feuding over a stolen car prior to Mr Apet’s death.
The incident comes after a weekend of African gang violence and marks the fifth gun-related death in 10 days, but Police Minister Lisa Neville said there was no reason for the public to feel unsafe.
"These are people often involved in bikie gangs or organised crime," she said from Geelong.
"Police are taking it extremely seriously."
Police Commander Tim Hansen said he understood why Melburnians may be worried following news of another shooting, but added: "Melbourne is a safe city".
"Shooting crime is a horrendous crime and strikes at the heart of everything we feel comfortable and safe about," he said.
"But I have absolute faith in the capabilities of investigators that we'll get to the bottom of this series of shootings relatively quickly."
Detectives have previously highlighted commonalities among some of the shooting deaths, including that the victims had been attending pre-planned meetings which led to a "fatal escalation".
Immigrant gun violence in Melbourne is at an all-time high, including shootings in the past week in Kensington, Dandenong and Meadow Heights.
Two of three men wanted over the Kensington shooting, which killed one man and injured two others, have been arrested in Sydney.
Mikhael Myko, 22, made a rude gesture to waiting media outside a Melbourne court this afternoon, following his extradition.
Abdullah El Nasher, 27, was injured while being arrested at Bankstown on Friday and remained in hospital, still to be interviewed by police.
Older brother Ali El Nasher, 28, is still wanted.
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