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Eleanor Wilson

Alleged gunman charged over mistaken identity murder

Marco Tapia was shot dead inside his home in Sydney after an alleged botched underworld hit. (PR IMAGE PHOTO)

An alleged gunman is among three more people charged with murder weeks after an innocent university student was gunned down in his bedroom.

Marco Tapia, 23, was shot dead after three males, one allegedly armed with a pistol, entered his Glen Alpine family home in Sydney’s southwest in the early hours of September 1, detectives allege.

Police have since said the wrong house was targeted and the biomedical engineering student was the unintended victim of a botched gangland hit.

Glen Alpine, Sydney, crime scene
Two men and one boy have been charged with murder over the alleged mistaken identity killing. (Max Aldred/AAP PHOTOS)

On Tuesday, detectives travelled to the regional town of Junee, 40 km north of Wagga Wagga, and arrested two men, aged 22 and 23, and a 16-year-old boy.

The trio was charged with murder, along with two counts of special aggravated break and enter, committing a serious indictable weapon offence-weapon and possessing an unauthorised prohibited firearm.

The two men and the boy were all remanded in custody to appear in court on Wednesday. 

Earlier, on September 16, two boys aged 14 and 16 were arrested and charged over their alleged roles in the murder.

Authorities allege they were involved in the preparation and clean up of the killing, but were still charged with murder for allegedly playing a role in a joint criminal enterprise.

They will remain behind bars until they next front a children’s court on November 13.

Mr Tapia's parents, Sergio and Claudia, described the traumatic experience of witnessing their son's death during an interview with Nine's A Current Affair program earlier this month.

Both were at home at the time of the shooting, along with their daughter.

"I remember him taking the last breath," Ms Tapia told the program.

"Hate came to our house."

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