Gardaí seek to identify men injured in shooting

GARDAÍ were yesterday trying to establish the identity of two Lithuanian men injured in a shooting over the weekend.

It is understood the men have not, so far, been particularly helpful to detectives investigating the gun attack.

Senior officers have expressed concern that feuds between Eastern Europeans in Ireland have now escalated from knives to guns.

The two Lithuanian men, aged 27 and 29, were shot by a gang of fellow Eastern Europeans at their home in Cabra, north Dublin, at about 10pm on Saturday.

One was shot in the hand, while the other was shot in the buttocks, but neither of the injuries were serious.

The two were living with five other people, from Lithuania and Poland, in a house on Ashington Heath, off the Navan Road.

Detectives in west Dublin spent yesterday trying to confirm the identity of the two men and have contacted the Lithuanian consulate in London.

Officers spoke to the men in Blanchardstown Hospital on Sunday, with the aid of interpreters.

“We have spoken to them, but have yet to interview them fully. They have not been particularly forthcoming,” said a garda source.

The two had a row with a gang of Eastern Europeans at their house earlier on Saturday, but managed to fend them off with golf clubs.

The gang - numbering about five or six - came back. One was armed with a handgun.

“Obviously this is a new development,” said the garda. “We have had incidents involving Lithuanians in the last few years, but the attacks have been with knives, not guns, so this is of concern.”

He said it was not surprising that people from Eastern Europe involved in the drugs trade might have established contacts with local criminals and had access to guns.

But he stressed there was no evidence yet that any of the people involved in this shooting were drug dealers.

Gardaí said three Polish men arrested later were not thought to have been involved in the attack. One was charged with possession of €600 worth of cannabis.

Meanwhile, gardaí have recovered a sawn-off shotgun suspected to have been used in a shooting in nearby Finglas on Saturday. Detectives suspect the man shot was involved in a feud with another local man, who he knows.

“We are trying to establish the motive, if it is personal or criminal, but drugs and drink are involved,” said one garda.

Gardaí in Finglas are also investigating a stabbing at a house party in Cappagh Avenue over the weekend. A man and a woman, who are known to each other, were stabbed.

Meanwhile, officers in Cabra said they had no definite line of inquiry in connection with the gangland murder of Shay Bradley last Friday.

Officers said there was nothing yet to suggest a link with charges Bradley was facing for the attempted murder of a man last year.