Gardaí in Cork are investigating whether an attack by a gang of men on the home of a woman and her young children was in retaliation for an earlier incident when a man was shot at his home elsewhere in the city.
Gardaí at Watercourse Road Garda station have begun harvesting CCTV footage to try and identify the gang of at least 10 men that arrived at a house on Sunday School Lane in Blackpool and began smashing doors and windows on Thursday.
The men, armed with hurleys and baseball bats, then broke into the house and terrorised a 30-year-old woman who was at home with her children. They were left shocked but not physically injured.
Gardaí say they are keeping an open mind on a motive for the attack but one line of inquiry which they are pursuing is whether it may be linked to the shooting of a 22-year-old man in the Mahon area.
The man suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder at about 7.30am. He was taken to Cork University Hospital to be treated for the injury, which was described as “non-life threatening”.
The victim declined to make a complaint to gardaí and refused to say how he suffered the injury when officers spoke to him.
Gardaí carried out a search near the man’s house on Ballinure Avenue in Mahon and also recovered CCTV footage from the area.
Investigators have appealed to anyone who has any information on either incident to contact them.
Gardaí are understood to be concerned that if the two incidents are linked, they may spark a feud between two rival families. They are planning to increase patrols in both areas to ensure that there is no escalation or further incidents between the parties.
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