Private television station Sigma said suspected criminal Alexi Mavromichalis had been targeted as he returned to his home in Strovolos, a suburb of the Cypriot capital.
Online Philnews said a guard at the house had been hit and later died of his wounds in hospital.
Police confirmed the death yesterday but said they could not name the victim as the family had yet to be informed.
Violence of this kind is rare, but Cyprus was plagued by gangland turf wars in the early 1990s.