The gang who murdered Andrew Allen in Co Donegal tried to force their way into his house before shooting several shots into a downstairs bedroom.
Gardaí revealed the front door of the house at Links View Park in Buncrana was locked when the three armed and masked men called at 9.30pm on Thursday.
At least one member of the gang fired several shots into the left downstairs bedroom of the house, killing the 24-year-old father of two.
It is believed he was hit a number of times before he fell to the floor.
Mr Allen, who had moved from the Top of The Hill on the Waterside area of Derry six months ago, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gardaí detailed the last moments of Mr Allen’s life at a press conference at Buncrana Garda station yesterday afternoon.
The dead man’s girlfriend was in the house at the time of the attack but was uninjured.
His two children were not in the house.
The attack took just a number of seconds before the men made their getaway in a stolen silver Vauxhall Cavalier, registration number SJI 2117.
The gang travelled in the direction of Derry but turned off at Fahan where they burned out the getaway car in the townland of Ballyhone.
Superintendent Kevin English, who is leading the investigation, said the gang must have used a second car. He appealed to people who may have noticed a car parked close to Church Brae, Fahan, where the gang’s original car was set on fire, to contact gardaí.
Several members of Mr Allen’s family left bunches of flowers at the Garda cordon yesterday.
Mr Allen’s body was due to be removed to Letterkenny General Hospital last night.
Buncrana parish priest Fr John Walsh said ordinary people are furious at the killing and that the taking of a life can never be justified.
"There’s contempt for the people who have perpetrated this crime," he said. "There’s a cold fury that a young man should, no matter what his background, should have been gunned to death in our community. We have our own forces of law and order in this town. People do not want this," he said.
No organisation has yet claimed any responsibility for the killing.
However, it is understood the Republican Action Against Drugs group issued death threats to Mr Allen and a number of other men in Derry several months ago.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, February 11, 2012
