Teenage boys charged with murder after alleged mistaken identity shooting of Sydney student

Two teenage boys have been charged with murder after the shooting death of a university student in Sydney this month, which police say was a case of mistaken identity.

Marco Tapia, 23, was shot inside his family’s home in Glen Alpine early on 1 September.

Officers were called to the house just before 4am that day by reports of a home invasion. They found Tapia with a gunshot wound; he died at the scene.

Detectives conducted an extensive investigation, determining that the wrong house had been targeted. Two boys, aged 14 and 16, were arrested on Wednesday and charged with murder. They are not alleged to have shot the weapon.

Both face charges of participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity, possession of an unauthorised firearm and driving conveyances taken without the owners’ consent.

The 14-year-old was also charged with damaging property with fire or an explosion.

Police will allege in court that the pair staged vehicles and provided a weapon for the gunman. They have been refused bail and will appear in children’s court on Thursday.

Tapia’s parents spoke to Channel Nine’s A Current Affair this week, saying: “Hate came to our house.” Both were home at the time, as was their daughter.

“I remember him taking the last breath,” his mother, Claudia, told the program.

His father, Sergio, said: “He was a beautiful young man. It’s already impacted a lot of hearts to see such a beautiful person, such a caring, loving man pass in this awful manner.

“It was wasteful, it was useless, it was ridiculously stupid to take such a beautiful person away from this earth.”

The New South Wales police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, has vowed to target those behind a spate of Sydney shootings. Another man was killed on 2 September.

“One innocent victim is unacceptable to me,” he told reporters after Tapia’s death. “We won’t rest until we stop this violence … anything we can do to stop it, we will do.”