The 52-year-old underwent surgery at the Launceston General Hospital on Thursday morning, just hours after he was seriously injured during the incident.

Police believe two shots were fired - one into the air, and one that ultimately hit the victim, leaving him with injuries to his leg, arms and torso.

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It was believed the men were attempting to break into the victim's car about 1am, before he tried to stop them.

A verbal altercation between the three men took place, before the victim was shot.

He suffered pellet wounds indicating a shotgun was likely behind the injuries. It was the 11^th firearm-related incident in Launceston in less than two months, with a dedicated police taskforce setup last week to target illegal guns across the district.

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But police remained concerned about the growing number of cases where firearms were being discharged in public places.

While the majority of firearms crime in the region involved parties known to each other, Detective Inspector Craig Fox said there was no information to suggest the victim on Thursday knew the two offenders.

"There's no doubt gun crime in Launceston is a serious concern to members of the public and police, that's why we have treated this very seriously, we created the taskforce to tackle gun crime, and to get illegal firearms off the street," he said

"Yes there has been multiple incidents in the past several weeks, the majority of those incidents aren't targeted at members of the public. However, when we do get people injured going about their day to day business, that is extremely concerning," Detective Inspector Fox said.

While the new gun taskforce remained in its early days, members had already undertaken a number of property searches, and seizures.

The recent cases had been widespread across the city, and included shots being fired at Hadspen, Scottsdale, Invermay, St Leonards, Youngtown, Rocherlea, Mayfield, Ravenswood, and in Balfour Street in Launceston.

Of those incidents, at least four had already been cleared by police, with charges laid.

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And despite no obvious direct link between each of the cases, serious crime in the region, including crimes involving firearms, was commonly linked to illicit drug use.

As of Thursday evening, the victim from the Invermay shooting was in recovery, and detectives were expected to interview him at the hospital.

The two suspects, however, remained at large.

The first suspect was described as being 170 centimetres tall, with a slender build, and wearing a black hoodie and dark coloured track pants.

The second suspect was described as being 175 centimetres tall, heavy set, wearing a large black jacket with a hood.

Anyone with information should contact police on 131 444.

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