A father picking up his teenage daughter from a Sydney school has been targetted in an attempted murder.

The 44-year-old father was sitting in his ute as it was parked in a driveway near the school in Fairfield, in the city's west, about 3pm on Wednesday when a man armed with a gun ran up next to the vehicle.

The tradie had just collected his 15-year-old daughter from school and she was sitting next to him.

The gunman had been disguised in a balaclava when he approached the ute.

Both occupants got out of the car and ran, with CCTV footage showing the pair looked back over their shoulders as they ran around the corner of a nearby house.

The father, wearing hi-vis, appeared to push his daughter, who was dressed in a school sports uniform, ahead of him.

The two then later reappeared, with footage showing the father walked ahead towards the car and his daughter urged him to 'watch out' from a few steps behind. 

Neither of the two were hurt but NSW Police said the pair were 'distressed'.

'The only description provided of the man with the gun was that he was dressed in black, wearing a black balaclava,' the police statement read.

Police are investigating the incident and also whether the gun had jammed. 

The gunman has not been identified, but detectives believe the man could have been targetted because of his relatives. 

There is no suggestion he is involved in criminal activity himself.

Multiple police patrol cars were dispatched to the school after the father alerted authorities and stayed well into Wednesday evening, along with a police helicopter circling the suburb from overhead.

One parent who arrived later to pick up his son in Year 9 said he was shocked by the incident.

'It's a bit scary,' he told the Nine News.

'What's going on with the bloody world?'

Western Sydney has been rocked by gang violence in recent years.

Just a few days ago footage had been circulating online of shots being fired from an assault rifle inside a car towards a venue in Punchbowl associated with the funeral of slain 'Coconut Cartel' boss Lorenzo Lamalu.

Police have since arrested a 17-year-old boy and a 23-year-old man over the incident.

The Coconut Cartel is understood to be made of members from the KVT gang who provided muscle for the Alameddine family until until they turned on them.

The gangs have been involved in a feud though it is unclear if Lamalu's assassination in Vietnam was connected to the dispute.

Police last month claimed they had dismantled the Coconut Cartel after the arrest of another top member and a series of raids sweeping up mid-tier members.