Croydon Park shooting: Artemios Mintzas faces court following Sydney gun battle

A man who allegedly sprayed up to 50 bullets on police during a siege lasting nearly two hours in Sydney’s inner west has appeared in court for the first time.

But what would have been a straightforward hearing for Artemios Mintzas took a curious turn after the 60-year-old appeared to have two legal teams.

Mr Mintzas allegedly shot “indiscriminately” at passing vehicles, including police vehicles in Croydon Park about 7.45pm on Sunday evening.

At least one person was shot and 16 people injured during the horrific siege before his arrest about 9.30pm.

Mr Mintzas was charged by police late on Monday night with 25 offences, including 18 counts of shooting at with intent to murder.

His matter was briefly mentioned before Burwood Local Court on Tuesday where he did not apply for bail, and it was formally refused.

In a bizarre twist, Mr Mintzas was brought into the court to solve a dispute between two legal teams.

The court was told the accused had given written instructions to two different solicitors.

After a few tense exchanges between the two legal parties, Mr Mintzas confirmed he was going ahead with barrister Dymphna Hawkins.

“Sorry about that,” he told the court.

Sporting a bright blue jacket, and sitting in the court docks with visible facial injuries, he sat quietly as his matter was adjourned for eight weeks and he returned to custody.

Outside Burwood Local Court, Ms Hawkins told the awaiting media scrum her client is “doing okay”.

He will return to court again on December 3, where he will also face charges including possessing a loaded firearm endangering life not public, firearm in or near a public place, possessing an unregistered firearm-not pistol/prohibited firearm, not keeping a firearm safely-not pistol/prohibited firearm, possessing ammunition without holding licence/permit/authority.

He has further been charged with firearm at dwelling-house with disregard for safety, discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest.

In an update on Monday, Acting Superintendent Stephen Parry told reporters Mr Mintzas had “no mental health history”, and had “very few recorded interactions with the police over the last 20 years”.

“It is incredible no one has died or received serious injuries because of this,” he said.

“My 35 years in the police, there’s been very few instances of this nature where somebody is randomly targeting people in the street driving past in vehicles.”

The attack did not appear to be drug or alcohol related, police said.

Mintzas suffered injuries to his eye socket when the glass windows were smashed during the incident, police said.

A 30-calibre firearm was seized by police from the man’s home, from which the shooting took place.

Police said Mr Mintzas did not have a gun licence, and are investigating whether the gun was legally owned.

Paramedics treated 16 people at the scene, who suffered minor injuries. Of those, two men were taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment.

A number of vehicles, including a police vehicle, sustained damage after allegedly being shot at.