Three arrested after drive-by shooting in Limerick

GARDAÍ have arrested three people in Limerick following a shooting incident in the Moyross area of the city on Tuesday night, in which a young man was injured.

Two men and a woman were last night being held for questioning under section 30 of the Offences Against The State Act.

A Limerick grandmother is believed by gardaí to have been behind the wheel of a car used in a drive-by shooting in the city on Tuesday night.

Local sources in Moyross say the woman was seen driving the car and it is suspected that the gunman was her son.

Three teenagers were wounded by shotgun pellets in the attack in Moyross.

Violence flared up in Limerick on Tuesday - four men received gunshot wounds and gangs clashed in vicious street fights and at a hospital.

The rise in violence led a senior garda yesterday to plead for more resources.

He warned: “We were stretched to the limit on the night.”

One man, Seán Keane, who was shot at his home in St Mary’s Park, was still recovering in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital yesterday.

Mr Keane, who is in his 40s and a brother of murdered crime boss, Kieran Keane, was shot three times - twice in the arm and once in the lower back.

He had answered a knock on the door of his home at St Mary’s Park at around 7.30pm on Tuesday night. A 19-year-old relative was arrested but released without charge yesterday.

Within hours of the attack, a street riot erupted in Moyross when the drive-by attack occurred. The gunman opened fire on a group of youths, hitting three of them with shotgun pellets.

None was seriously hurt.

But as gardaí tried to deal with a major street battle involving more than 50 youths which followed the shooting, they were called to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital on the other side of the city as opposing sides from a Moyross feud gathered while the injured were being treated.

The Moyross shooting is believed to be linked to anther attack there last weekend when a man was shot in the chest. He discharged himself from hospital, but yesterday was readmitted at his own request.

A senior garda source, who asked not to be named, said yesterday: “Gardaí at this stage are suffering from burnout in dealing with this ongoing situation. After the Mary’s Park shooting which we were investigating, we were then called to a major incident in Moyross.”

He said gardaí tried to keep two feuding gangs separated.

“We could not make an arrest as this would and cause a mini-riot. We are dealing with very dangerous situations like this without proper resources. We do not have a proper dedicated riot squad who can go into a situation with all the proper equipment. If this was any other job it would be a major health and safety issue,” he said.

He said gardaí were fortunate that nobody was injured with violent groups mobbing patrol cars in the Moyross confrontation.

He added: “Not alone had we a major investigation in St Mary’s Park, and a street fight involving more than 50 youths in Moyross, but we then had to send people to the hospital where groups from different gangs gathered while people were being treated.”