Shooting father makes plea

THE father of a shooting victim last night pleaded for anybody with information about the attack to help the gardaí.

Billy Nagle, whose 25-year-old son Teddy was shot in a Cork suburb on Wednesday night, said he was lucky not to have been more seriously injured.

Teddy Nagle was shot twice with a double-barreled shotgun. One of the shots hit him in the side of the stomach, but the other blast narrowly missed him.

Mr Nagle was rushed to Cork University Hospital after the shooting and is said to be in a stable condition. “He’ll be in hospital for the next week or so. It could have been a lot worse,” his father said. The shooting happened at Pearse Road, Togher at 8.45pm on Wednesday. Gardaí said a number of men, possibly three, approached Mr Nagle. One of them produced a shotgun and then fired two shots at him. The three fled towards the Lough in what gardaí believe was a gold-coloured Fiat Punto.

“I hope anybody with information about the shooting will give it to the gardaí,” Mr Nagle said.

A senior Garda spokesman said they were still following a number of lines of inquiry, but as it was still early in the investigation, they hadn’t established a firm motive for the attack. Gardaí are also investigating an incident yesterday morning which they believe may be connected to the shooting.

“At around 7am a Citroen van was burnt-out a short distance from where the shooting happened,” the garda spokesman said.

Gardaí arrested a local man in his early 20s later. The man was released last night without charge and gardaí will be sending a file to the DPP.

Anybody with information is asked to contact Togher gardaí at [phone].