They just want every one of us dead, says sister-in-law

“THEY’RE scum. My father’s killers are not human.”

Sitting in the family home in Cliona, Moyross, yesterday, Samantha Ryan was in tears as she tried to come to terms with the shooting.

The 20-year-old recalled how she comforted her dad before he died.

“I saw my father on the ground and I spoke to him. I was with him as he was lying on the ground and I went in the ambulance with him.

“I was talking to him and he was talking to me. I told him ‘you’ll be all right’ and he said he would be grand.”

Shortly after arriving at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Samantha said they were told he had died.

Those responsible for her father’s death have been shooting at their home in Lee Estate for years and “burnt us out of the house”, she said.

Mr Ryan’s nephew John McCarthy, whose own house was shot at by two men with a Kalashnikov rifle, said:

“Those responsible were out to get John. He was obviously a marked man. We know who is responsible.”

“They just want every one of us dead,” said a sister-in-law, as friends and relatives comforted the victim’s wife, Christina and her six children.

“There was a big party last night celebrating that my brother-in-law was dead,” she said. “We all loved John. He would never hurt anybody and he adored his wife and family.”

Eddie Ryan’s widow, Mary, said the media was implying that this was an ongoing row about drugs.

“My husband Eddie never had a criminal record for drugs and was never in prison for drugs.”

She said the feud involved two other families and had nothing to do with the Ryans.

“These other two families are continuing the feud and the Ryans have never retaliated,” said Mary.

Independent councillor John Gilligan said local people were living in fear.

“There are no winners and losers in this ongoing dispute. All we have is blood, tears and pain for the families involved. It is horrifying what is going on and it is hard to know when these killings will ever end.”

Mr Gilligan said he had spoken to John Ryan on a number of occasions.

“He was not driving this faction in any way. He had to leave his family home in Lee Estate because it was constantly attacked.

"John Ryan was never involved in drugs. Both he and his wife worked extremely hard. John was killed because of his name after his brother’s death.There is no justification for his killing.”