Police were called to the Harold Park Hotel on Ross Street in Forest Lodge following reports of a public place shooting at about 6.40pm.
Officers arrived to find two men shot multiple times by people who had left the scene in a car before police arrived.
Both men suffered multiple gunshot wounds each with NSW Ambulance paramedics treating them at the scene, however one man could not be saved.
The other, who had wounds to the neck, chest and abdomen, was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a serious condition.
Witnesses reported hearing between six and 12 gunshots with multiple bullet casings found by police at the scene.
“I walked around the corner, I saw the guy had been, they’d been shot,” one bystander told 9News.
“One of them had been shot, was lying on the ground. So I ran up to him and then 30 seconds later, some doctors and some other ladies that were inside the hotel came out.”
“He had been shot multiple times, at least six times,” she said.
“But he was still conscious, and they put him in the ambulance so hopefully he makes a full recovery.”
“It just doesn’t feel like something that happens in Sydney very often, but when it does happen it feels pretty scary.”
Among patrons in the busy pub were at least one doctor and nurse who rushed to offer first aid before multiple ambulance and police cars swarmed the scene.
The pub’s manager told the SMH the men were part of a group who had just left the hotel when the incident occurred, as they walked up Wigram Road.
A third person was also assaulted during the incident according to the publication.
A crime scene’s been set up as police investigate the incident and Wigram Road remains closed.