Bullet hits car during shooting attack on gardaí

TWO detectives narrowly escaped death when a sniper hit their unmarked car with a burst of automatic gunfire as they drove through O’Malley Park, Southill.

Details of the shooting emerged yesterday when gardaí condemned the attack, which happened at around 9pm on Sunday night.

At least one bullet hit the front of the patrol car.

The two detectives, who were heavily armed and wearing bullet-proof vests, are based at the Roxboro Road crime unit.

Chief Superintendent Willie Keane, head of the Limerick Garda Division, condemned the attack, the first gun attack on gardaí in that part of Limerick.

Chief Supt Keane said: “This a very sinister development and thankfully nobody was injured.”

Detective Inspector Jim Ryan, head of the Roxboro road crime unit, said the gunman knew who he was shooting at.

Det Insp Ryan said “The patrol car was in Southill for some time and obviously somebody targeted the two gardaí. A number of shots were fired. When a gun is discharged you have a potentially lethal situation. Bullets can go anywhere. One bullet hit the front bumper of the patrol car. It could have easily gone through the windscreen and hit one of the two gardaí. It was just luck they were not hit.”

The gardaí who were shot at joined colleagues during a follow-up search of the area in which a man was arrested. He was being held at Roxboro Road last night under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

The man, in his 30s, is linked to one of two families who have been engaged in a violent feud in recent weeks.

Armed patrols have been intensified in Southill due to the escalation of the feud.

The feud involves a local crime family who control a huge amount of the drugs trade in Southill and a family who live in a halting site near the area.

There have been up to 15 shooting incidents during the hostilities and two people have been injured. One man received a bullet wound to the knee.

A second man who received gunshot wounds to his backside went to the A&E department of St John’s Hospital. However, when staff informed him they were obliged to report gun injuries to gardaí, he put his trousers back on and ran from the hospital.

Gardaí yesterday carried out house searches in Southill and forensic experts tried to pinpoint the location from where the shots were fired on Sunday.