Murder victim’s friends assist gardaí with inquiries

TWO friends of murder victim John Daly made contact with gardaí yesterday.

The men were in a taxi with the notorious gangland figure when he was shot dead in Finglas, north Dublin, just before 2am on Monday.

They fled from the scene after the shooting and were not heard from afterwards.

But yesterday afternoon they made contact with gardaí and are assisting them with their inquiries.

Detectives are eager to gather as much information as possible about Daly’s activities over Sunday night and the movements of anyone who had contact with him.

Daly, 27, and his two friends had spent Sunday night in Dublin city centre and had gone to a club.

They met three women there and brought them back to Finglas for a party. The five of them got into a taxi and arrived at Cloonara Drive in Finglas at about 1.45am.

A man approached the taxi and fired at least five shots into Daly, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Gardaí want to know how Daly’s killer knew he was in the taxi. Detectives also suspect the killer was informed Daly was in the passenger seat. Officers want to check the mobile phones of anyone in contact with Daly over that night.

The two friends fled from the car after the shooting, while the three women stayed at the scene.

Gardaí are collecting CCTV footage from earlier in the night which might show if anyone else was observing Daly at the club and saw him leave.

Investigating officers said there was a long list of possible suspects to the fatal shooting.