Six men were arrested in Galway last night in connection with a fatal shooting at a Traveller's funeral in Ballymote, Co Sligo, yesterday afternoon. A man suffering from gunshot injuries was also being kept under Garda surveillance in Sligo General Hospital.
The killing, which is being linked to a long-running feud between the Ward and McDonagh families, happened outside the graveyard in Ballymote at about 2.30 p.m.
The man died in Sligo General Hospital and a murder investigation was launched. Gardai were last night trying to verify the dead man's name.
The shooting happened as up to 200 Travellers gathered outside the graveyard awaiting the arrival of the funeral, from Ballymun in Dublin, of Mr Patrick Ward.
Gardai confirmed last night that six young men were being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Mill Street Garda station in Galway. They were arrested while travelling in a van at about 5.50 p.m. in Claregalway. Some are said to have English addresses.
At Sligo General Hospital last night the injured man was said to be in a stable condition in the intensive care unit.
It is believed he was not hit by a bullet from the same gun as the murder victim. The Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, was due in Sligo last night to carry out a post mortem examination.
People living in houses close to the graveyard described hearing a number of shots and said there was general panic as people tried to run from the shooting.
The dead man is believed to have been sitting in a van when he was shot. Gardai recovered a gun from the scene but is not believed to be the murder weapon.
Witnesses said an injured man in his mid-20s ran from the graveyard followed by four or five other men.
There was a trail of blood left along a 30-metre stretch of pavement close to the scene. It is believed one man may have shot himself in the leg as he ran away.
Mr Tommy Tighe, who lives directly opposite the graveyard, had his front door broken down by a Traveller fleeing from the shooting.
Mr Tighe was working in his back garden when he heard two or three shots. He then saw a young man with a pistol firing at Travellers who had gathered at the graveyard, but said he wasn't sure if it was a real gun.
"Then this fella came running towards the house. He had a hedging knife in his hand and said he wanted to get into the house. I said he wasn't getting in, but he made a run at the door with his shoulder and broke the door in, and sought refuge inside.
"He was afraid of his life. He started asking if I had a gun in the house - he said he wanted a gun. A girl went into the house after him, and they left after a few minutes when things quietened down," Mr Tighe said.
A neighbour, Mrs Lily Deegan, said she heard shots and then saw a young man running past her door. "He was limping, and there were about four or five others after him," she said.
Mrs Deegan said she had been expecting trouble from early yesterday morning when she saw Travellers acting suspiciously in the graveyard.
Supt John Leahy of Ballymote said Garda checkpoints had been set up around the town early yesterday morning but no weapons had been seized.
However, locals said the Garda presence was much lower than on previous occasions when Wards and McDonaghs have gathered in Ballymote for funerals or burials. Over the past year weapons including billhooks, knives and hammers have been seized on a number of occasions.
At the funeral last October of Mr Tom Ward, who was from England but living in Dublin, gardai seized a large amount of weapons and there were a number of clashes around Ballymote. Weapons were also seized that day at Dun Laoghaire and Rosslare.
A peace agreement was brokered by gardai in Tuam, Co Galway between feuding Wards and McDonaghs last September.
While violent incidents in the Tuam area have decreased since, branches of the families linked to Sligo are not believed to be respecting the agreement.
Gardai did not believe there was a connection between the Ballymote shooting and an incident in Longford where a Traveller was injured by a crossbow bolt.