A MAN shot dead in a lunchtime gangland attack on a busy housing estate on Thursday was ambushed by two men with guns and was fatally wounded by bullets from both weapons, a postmortem has revealed.
The Garda initially thought that only one gunman was involved in the shooting dead of 30-year-old Michael Kelly on the Clongriffin estate in Coolock, north Dublin, and that the killer was then driven from the scene by an accomplice.
However, the postmortem has shown that two guns were used. Investigating officers now believe Kelly was shot from inside the killers’ car by one of the gunmen before his armed accomplice got out and shot the victim again as he lay wounded on the ground to make sure he was dead.
The Real IRA in Dublin are among the suspects for the killing. However, gardaí said the dead man had made many enemies through his long involvement in organised crime.
Kelly, a convicted drug dealer who had been targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau, had gone to visit his partner and their baby son at an apartment complex on Marrsfield Avenue on Thursday.
When he left the apartment at 1.15pm to walk across the car park to a friend in a waiting car his killers pulled up in a stolen silver Saab and gunned him down.
The Irish Timesunderstands he was shot up to six times.
The associate who was waiting for Kelly in the car managed to speed from the scene when he saw the shooting commence. The killers then gunned down their target and drove over his body as they escaped.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
The car used by the killers was found abandoned in Clonshaugh, north Dublin, just over a mile from the crime scene.
Kelly, originally from Swans nest in Kilbarrack, north Dublin, was suspected of involvement in a number of gun murders in recent years.
He had spent time in the Netherlands and Spain this year because he knew his life was at risk from gangland criminals in Dublin with whom he was feuding.
However, in recent months he had returned to spend more time with his partner and new baby son.
