A bikie associated with the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang has been shot outside his home in Epping.
The injured man, Red Devils gang member Daniel Pegoraro, was shot in the lower back in the driveway of his Epping home about 9pm on Sunday.
He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a critical condition, but he was upgraded to stable about 9am on Monday.
His father Joe Pegoraro, who lives at the house with his wife and runs a successful custom motorcycle company from the same address, said he did not know why Daniel was shot.
‘‘They’re just cowards,’’ Joe Pegoraro said.
‘‘Cowards for coming to our house and doing that.’’
Men wearing Red Devils jackets were at the McCarty Avenue address about an hour after the shooting.
The Red Devils acts as a feeder group for the Hells Angels gang. Mr Pegoraro, 28, is also a prospect of the Hells Angels Nomads, a chapter based in Thomastown.
Tensions between the Hells Angels and rival gang Bandidos have been high since the shooting of former Bandidos sergeant-at-arms Toby Mitchell earlier this year.
Detective Inspector Adrian Dalzotto from the armed crime taskforce said police were searching for a dark BMW seen at the house shortly before the shooting.
He said the victim had been speaking to the shooter before the attack.
“The fact that it didn’t kill him, whether that’s by design or pure luck is anybody’s guess at the moment,” Detective Inspector Dalzotto said.
He would not comment on the type of weapon used, how many shots were fired or how many times the victim was shot. A detective at the scene on Sunday night said Mr Pegoraro had been shot twice.
Nearby residents told Fairfax Media there had been motorcycle activity in the area throughout Sunday.
Detective Inspector Dalzotto said there may have been other people inside the BMW and that it was too early to confirm the shooting was linked to bikies. The armed crime taskforce, and not the bikies-focused Echo taskforce, are investigating the shooting.
Detectives had spoken to Mr Pegoraro in hospital but he had not told them who had shot him.
In March, up to six gunshots were fired at a McCarty Avenue house in a drive-by shooting, but no one was injured.
Following that incident, a Victoria Police spokeswoman told Fairfax Media that the shooting was related to escalating violence between outlaw motorcycle clubs in Melbourne.
Five days after Mr Mitchell was shot in March, Mr Pegoraro was linked to the ambush when he faced court over handling stolen caravans as part of an investigation into the theft of $1.1 million worth of goods.
Those matters were later dropped by police, as were assault charges stemming from a brawl at a Mill Park shopping centre that police alleged he had started.
That brawl also involved his brother Benjamin, 23, but charges against both were dropped last month.
Fairfax Media reported earlier this month that Echo taskforce detectives believe Mr Mitchell had stood down as the Bandidos’ Australasian serjeant-at-arms and had handed in his club colours.
He had been considered the enforcer of club rules and ‘‘general’’ in times of war across the club’s chapters in Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Thailand but had left the club because of poor health.
Police have been searching for an M1 carbine and AK-47 linked to the Hells Angels that had been used during several shootings at the clubhouses of rivals, but the Pegoraros had not been linked to these weapons.
