Constable Elizabeth Roth was in a stable condition in Liverpool Hospital in southwestern Sydney last night after undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel.

At Kellyville on the city’s northwestern outskirts a 37-year-old Iranian man was killed at his front door on Saturday night in thenormally quiet McMansion-style street of Patya Circuit after answering a knock on his door.

Mr [Masoud Faroughi] is believed to to have worked part-time as a taxi driver as he completed a PhD in chemistry. Police said no clear motive had been established.

A SPATE of shootings in NSW over the weekend — which left two men dead, a police constable in hospital and an 80-year-old wounded – – has led to claims that criminals are “running rings around the police”.

The series of unrelated attacks, which occurred in a 24-hour period between Saturday morning and early Sunday, have reignited thepolitical debate over law and order in Australia’s largest city.

State Opposition Leader Peter Debnam yesterday blamed the violence on police staffing cuts and the Government’s failure to deal with increasing levels of gun crime.

While criminals were “running rings around the police” the Premier was “in denial about the level of violence,” he said.

But Premier Morris Iemma said police numbers were adequate and he was confident police would track down the gunmen. “My message to them is we have a strong and very highly skilled police force that will track down these perpetrators,” he said.

Constable Elizabeth Roth was in a stable condition in Liverpool Hospital in southwestern Sydney last night after undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel.

Constable Roth was stabbed in the arm and shot in the side by a man who jumped the counter at Wetherill Park police station and grabbed her service revolver early on Saturday morning.

From her hospital bed yesterday Constable Roth said with so many visitors and so much support she felt “on a continual high”.

After a 36-hour search and a number of tipoffs from the public, a 33-year-old man surrendered to police in the company of a relatives and was assisting with inquiries last night.

At Kellyville on the city’s northwestern outskirts a 37-year-old Iranian man was killed at his front door on Saturday night in thenormally quiet McMansion-style street of Patya Circuit after answering a knock on his door.

Masoud Faroughi’s wife and six-year-old son were inside and were later taken to hospital suffering from shock.

Mr Faroughi is believed to to have worked part-time as a taxi driver as he completed a PhD in chemistry. Police said no clear motive had been established.

Most neighbours were too distressed or frightened to speak yesterday, but one man described hearing two shots fired within seconds of each other.

Another neighbour said a Mercedes Benz had been torched at Mr Faroughi’s house last year.

A 36-year-old man was found shot dead in the front yard of his home at Robertson, south of Sydney. Police are seeking witnesses to an earlier fight at a Robertson hotel.

In another gun attack an 80-year-old man was wounded in the foot in a drive-by shooting at Guildford in Sydney’s west while he lay in bed.