Concern over third shooting in three days

GARDAÍ ARE investigating the third shooting in three days linked to a drugs feud in Finglas, Dublin

GARDAÍ ARE investigating the third shooting in three days linked to a drugs feud in Finglas, Dublin. One of the factions is led by a 17-year-old youth.

A father and son were shot in separate shootings last Sunday and Monday and gardaí believe a shooting at a house on Tuesday night is linked to the same dispute.

The shootings are linked to a localised row between drug dealers which began in late 2007 when a young drug dealer was shot in Finglas.

In the latest incident, shots were fired outside a house on Barry Drive, Finglas, at about 8.20pm on Tuesday.

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Gardaí believe the gunman was on foot and that he fired at least seven rounds from a semi-automatic handgun.

The shots hit a car parked in the driveway. The damaged vehicle was taken away for examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.

Gardaí are working on the theory that the shooting is a revenge attacking for the shooting of a father and son in separate attacks on Sunday and Monday.

In the first of those attacks a man in his mid-20s was drinking in the Cappagh House, Barry Road, Finglas, at about 12.30am when two masked men entered the premises.

One of the men fired at least one shot from a sawn-off shotgun. The victim was sprayed with pellets but was not seriously injured.

In a follow-up search, gardaí found clothing and a shotgun in the garden of a house close to the pub. It is believed the items were discarded by the attackers.

The same man was wounded in a related gun attack in the car park of the same pub in November.

On Monday night, a man in his 50s was shot at a house in Casement Park, Finglas. The victim is the father of the man shot in the Cappagh House early on Sunday.

The middle-aged man was at the house at about 8pm when he went to answer the door.

When the door was opened a gunman was standing outside and shot at the man, wounding him in the arm and hip.

He was taken to Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown, where his son was treated the previous day. Neither man’s injuries are life threatening.

Gardaí investigating the three shootings since Sunday are pursuing a definite line of inquiry.

As well as seizing a shotgun after the early morning attack on Sunday, gardaí found a revolver and 5kg of cannabis at Coldwinters near Finglas. Two 17-year-olds were arrested at the scene.

The three Finglas shootings follow the unrelated shooting dead last Wednesday in Summerhill, Dublin, of heroin dealer Michael “Roly” Cronin (35), Ballymun, and James Moloney (26) from Dublin’s south inner city.

On the same night, a 29-year-old man was wounded three times in another unrelated attack when a gunman burst into his home in Drynam Hall, Kinsealy, north Dublin.

Gardaí believe the latter victim was shot by a drug dealer known to him.

Conor Lally

Conor Lally

Conor Lally is Security and Crime Editor of The Irish Times