Gardaí fear retaliation as Dublin hit by four unrelated shootings in 12 hours
Detectives believe Mark Desmond, a suspect for a double murder, was the intended target of a drive-by shooting in Tallaght, west Dublin, in which he and an associate received minor injuries.
The two men managed to escape in their car after the handgun used by their attackers, who were travelling on a motorbike, jammed.
Officers expect revenge. “The fact that the attackers failed means there is going to be retaliation,” said one experienced detective.
It was one of four separate, and unrelated, shootings across west Dublin in less than a day, which left two people seriously injured.
Gardaí said a gun attack in Greenfort Crescent may be linked to another shooting in the area last Saturday, in which a woman was injured.
A 20-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman injured in Finglas were yesterday undergoing surgery.
The man received a shotgun blast to the groin, while his girlfriend, a mother of one, was shot in her right leg.
Her eight-year-old child was in bed when the assailant broke into their house on Finglaswood Road and opened fire on the couple in the sitting room.
The pair were described as being in a serious but stable condition, but there were fears last night about the woman’s condition.
The two are known to local gardaí, but are not considered major criminals. Gardaí said they were following a number of lines of inquiry.
Gardaí believe Mark Desmond was the target of an assassination attempt and only escaped when the handgun used in the attack jammed.
The single shot fired passed through his right hand before entering his accomplice’s lower back.
Desmond, 31, from Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, was charged with the murders of Darren Carey, 20, and Patrick Murray, 19, in 2000.
However, the charges were dropped after his former girlfriend retracted her statement implicating him.
He was subsequently convicted of unlawful possession of firearms with intent to endanger life, but this conviction was overturned in 2004.
Gardaí believe a number of different groups could have been responsible for the assassination attempt.
: Mark Desmond and another man were shot in Old Bawn, Tallaght, in a gangland gun attack.
: a 17-year-old girl received minor wounds to her arm and leg in Greenfort Crescent, Clondalkin in an apparent feud among neighbours.
: shots were fired at a car in Neilstown, Clondalkin, in a suspected drugs-related attack. There were no injuries.
: a young man and a young woman were seriously injured in a shotgun attack in Finglas, north Dublin.
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