THEY made a significant breakthrough in a months-long murder investigation on Friday, arresting two men alleged to have links to the shooting of David William King at Salt Ash in August.
But detectives attached to Strike Force Breve have unfinished business and are still searching for the person who used a shotgun to blast the 45-year-old Tanilba Bay man in the face while he drove his white Ford Ranger ute along Hideaway Drive.
Detectives had ramped up their public appeals for information and released vision from several CCTV cameras in the days before they swooped on two men in two hours on Friday.
Police say they stopped a vehicle on Wahroonga Street at Raymond Terrace about 11.30am on Friday and arrested 27-year-old Tyson George Stamp.
Mr Stamp was later charged with murder, take or detain a person in company with intent to obtain advantage, damage property by fire and possession of a prohibited weapon.
It is understood that police do not allege Mr Stamp was the gunman, but instead claim he was at the scene of the shooting and drove the getaway car, a white Hyundai Santa Fe, which was later found burnt out in Masonite Road, Heatherbrae.
Police released CCTV footage earlier this month showing a man running down Masonite Road before throwing the keys to the Sante Fe onto the roof of a business about 45 minutes after Mr King was shot.
A little over two hours after arresting Mr Stamp, police went to Charlestown Square and arrested 39-year-old Adam Kane Garvey.
Mr Garvey was later charged with accessory after the fact to murder and accessory after the fact to kidnapping. Neither man appeared in Newcastle Bail Court on Saturday and did not enter pleas or apply for bail.
Both men are scheduled to appear in Raymond Terrace Local Court on Monday, while detectives continue their investigation into anyone else involved in Mr King's shooting.
Mr King, who was on bail for drug supply charges, was driving along Hideaway Drive, Salt Ash, about 1.45pm on Sunday, August 29 when he was shot in the face at close range by his passenger and crashed his car into a tree. Emergency services arrived to find Mr King's lifeless body slumped outside his driver's side door.
The gunman and at least three other people - two men and a woman - fled from the scene before police arrived.
It is now understood that the woman may have been detained by those involved in the shooting before later being released.
Police have labelled Mr King's death a "targeted attack" and were investigating if it was drug related.
