Two men held over Ryan murder

GARDAÍ in Limerick were yesterday questioning two men in connection with the brutal murder of 47-year- old John Ryan, the third victim to die in the bloody feud in the city.

The men, one in his 40s and the other in his 20s, were arrested in the northside of the city at 8.30am yesterday morning.

They are being held at Henry Street and Mayorstone Garda Stations and can be detained for up to 48 hours. A handgun found by gardaí during searches of houses in the St Mary’s Park area of the city is still being examined by garda ballistic experts in Dublin to establish if it was used in the killing.

Father of six, John Ryan, of Cliona Park, Moyross, was gunned down on July 7 in a drive-by shooting by two men on a motorbike while working on a garden patio, at Canon Breen Park in Thomondgate around 6.30pm.

The red motorbike was later recovered at the rear of a coal shed in the St Mary’s Park area. Meanwhile, armed detectives are continuing their 24-hour patrols around key areas in the northside of the city.

Mr Ryan’s murder is being seen as a direct reprisal for the murder of Kieran Keane at Drombanna on the outskirts of the city on January 29 last.

Five men have been charged with Keane’s murder and the attempted murder of his nephew Owen Treacy, who survived multiple stab wounds in the same incident.