GARDAÍ IN Cork are examining CCTV footage from around the city to try to identify two men who were behind the attempted murder of a 35-year-old man who was shot while visiting his pregnant girlfriend.
Detectives are trying to establish the movements of a dark green Mercedes used by a gunman and his accomplice when they carried out the shooting at a house in Kilmore Road in Knocknaheeny on Cork’s north side at about 9.30pm on Sunday.
The man was in the downstairs front room with his girlfriend and her six- and three-year-old children when the gunman fired two shots through the window, wounding the man in the stomach and shoulder.
The woman was uninjured and raised the alarm. The man, who had lost a large amount of blood, was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery yesterday morning.
A hospital spokesman said the man was in stable condition yesterday, but The Irish Times understands medical staff are concerned that he may be paralysed as it is believed a bullet passed close to his spine.
Supt Con Cadogan of Gurranebraher Garda station, who is leading the investigation, appealed to the public for assistance.
“We could easily have found ourselves with a number of people including children being killed in this – there were two small children and a pregnant woman all in a very small room and they could easily have been hit,” he said.
Gardaí believe that the gunman, who was armed with a handgun and wore a hoodie, made his getaway in the 1995 Mercedes driven by an accomplice. The car was discovered on fire by gardaí in a field off Sheehan’s Boreen in Monard near Blarney within 10 minutes of the shooting, after they received a call from a member of the public.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Gurranebraher Garda station in confidence on 021-494 6200.
