Murder hunt as father gunned down

GARDAÍ are searching for a lone gunman who blasted a 20-year-old father-of-one in the chest as his horrified girlfriend looked on.

The motive for the man’s murder remains unclear but detectives are appealing for anybody who may have witnessed a series of rows a few minutes earlier to contact them. These rows took place only a short distance from where the victim was gunned down.

Corkman John Butler was killed by a balaclava-clad gunman armed with a shotgun who approached him on foot as he was walking his long-time girlfriend, Rachel Thornhill, home.

Mr Butler, who had a three-year-old son, Jamie, was shot as he walked home from a night out. The gunman approached him as he was strolling along Gurranabraher Road at 1.05am yesterday towards his family’s home at Knocknaheeny Avenue.

Two shots were fired at Mr Butler from what is believed to be a double-barrelled shotgun. One blast hit him in the chest and the other a wall.

Mr Butler managed to crawl to a nearby car while his girlfriend screamed for help. She cradled him in her arms until an ambulance arrived. A short time later he was pronounced dead at Cork University Hospital.

“I can’t believe they took my boy from me. He was murdered in cold blood. Someone just came out of nowhere and shot him,” John’s distraught mother, Monica, said.

Mrs Butler described her only child as a gentleman. “He was never in any trouble. He was killed for no particular reason at all,” Mrs Butler said. Mr Butler worked at the Keytech plastics plant in Cork, enjoyed weightlifting and fishing and played soccer with Knocknaheeny Celtic.

Mother of two Margaret Troy, who lives near the scene of the killing said: “There were very loud shots. Then I heard a girl screaming for a long time. She was hysterical.”

Superintendent Mick O’Loughlin said 30 gardaí who had been assigned to the case were carrying out house-to-house enquiries and examining video footage taken from the area.

“We would particularly like to talk to anyone who was in the Blarney Street, Boyce’s Street or Gurranabraher Road areas between midnight and 1.15am yesterday,” Supt O’Loughlin said.

It is believed the killer escaped the scene by running along Boyce’s Street.

State Pathologist Professor John Harbison and a team of gardaí forensic experts examined the scene yesterday afternoon. Professor Harbison then travelled to Cork University Hospital to carry out a post mortem.

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