Crime statistics may not confirm it but there is a sense that gang violence, especially that connected to drug dealing, has reached a new, savage level.

A man has been charged with the murder of Melanie McCarthy in west Dublin a fortnight ago.

Gardaí were last night hunting down the head of an organised crime network after arresting his girlfriend and six gang members in a massive “shakedown”.

Locals in the Dublin suburb where innocent Melanie McCarthy was gunned down are bracing themselves for further violence following the funeral yesterday of the 16-year-old girl.

Two men have been arrested over the murder of a 16-year-old girl shot dead in a drive-by killing.

Gardaí will know as early as today if they have a DNA match linking a key suspect to last week’s murder of Melanie McCarthy.

The shotgun used to kill Melanie McCarthy was pressed against the passenger window when it was fired — giving the 16 year old no chance of survival.

Fourteen-year-old boys openly dealing drugs, carrying knives, and even guns.

A Traveller gang “runs” the Dublin estate where 16-year-old Melanie McCarthy was gunned down, local community workers have claimed.

Sharon says her teenage daughter narrowly missed getting caught up in Tuesday night’s gangland murder.

The senior garda leading the investigation into the murder of 16-year-old Melanie McCarthy described the killing as a “particularly heinous crime”.

Gardaí fear a notorious Limerick gang might head to Dublin and “set Tallaght on fire” in revenge for the murder of Melanie McCarthy, 16.

A teenage girl gunned down in a drive-by shooting was an innocent child mistakenly targeted by her killers, her family have said.

Gardaí in Dublin are appealing for witnesses after a 16-year-old girl died following a shooting incident in Tallaght last night at around 10.35pm.

Chief Superintendent John Manley has appealed for the public's help in solving the "particularly heinous crime" of the shooting dead of a teenage girl in Tallaght overnight.

Gardaí are trying to trace the movements of a vehicle which they believe may have been used in a shooting in Tallaght overnight, in which a teenage girl died.

A teenage girl killed in a drive-by shooting may have been mistakenly targeted in a feud between families, detectives believe.