With his family getting ready for bed, there was a knock at Joe Antoun's front door.
The convicted armed robber and extortionist answered and was immediately shot up to five times as his wife and twin six-year-old daughters watched in horror.
Police say the 50-year-old died instantly at his home in Strathfield, in Sydney's inner west on Monday night.
They are looking for his killer, who they believe is a man wearing a hooded jumper and dark pants.
Superintendent Mark Jones described the "callous act" as a targeted shooting, and says police don't believe Mr Antoun's family or others should fear for their lives.
"It wasn't a random shooting by the very nature of the offence," Supt Jones told reporters on Tuesday.
Mr Antoun served jail sentences for various offences, dating back to the early 1990s.
In 1992 he was sentenced to a minimum of six years for armed robbery.
In 2003 he was sentenced to a minimum of four and a half years after a judge found he and his brother Antoine Antoun guilty of demanding money with menaces from Darling Harbour nightclub owner Michael Savvas in 2001.
Judge Terence Christie found the brothers were guilty of a "naked case of extortion" by threatening Mr Savvas and demanding money for security for the Daintree Cafe.
Police are not ruling out a possible gang connection to Antoun.
Convicted drug dealer Jim Byrnes, who now describes himself as a "bankruptcy guru", believes Mr Antoun had many enemies.
"You'll need to hire an entertainment centre to interview people who had a motive to want Antoun out of the way," Mr Byrnes told Fairfax Media.
Mr Byrnes had previously told police he believed Mr Antoun peppered his Bellevue Hill mansion with bullets in 2012.
But Mr Antoun's older brother Nemer Antoun said he hadn't been in trouble with the law for years, describing him as a gentle man.
"Joe was a working bloke, just trying to make money to support his kids," he told News Corp Australia.
"He hasn't been in any trouble for years - a few parking fines maybe but that's it.
"He loved his kids more than anything in the world ... this will destroy them, it has destroyed us."
Dozens of police officers were at the scene in Jersey Road since late Monday and most of Tuesday doing line searches, talking to neighbours and gathering evidence.
Two little girls were seen on the street late on Monday night, one clutching a teddy bear, both wearing matching pink striped pyjamas, while his wife Tegan was seen with blood on her arm as paramedics arrived.
Neighbours woke up to see Jersey Road cordoned off by police tape from both sides and TV cameras everywhere.
Their leafy street, which is surrounded by exclusive private girls' schools and a nursing home, was filled with police and forensics officers.
Many residents had reporters break the news to them as police escorted them from the street to go to work or take their children to the nearby Burwood Public School.
One resident said the family of four had moved in recently.
"They keep to themselves," she said. "I don't think the dad worked."
Staff at a nursing home nearby said they were frightened by what had occurred.
