Boy, 14, still in custody over shooting

A BOY, aged 14, was still being held by Limerick gardaí last night in connection with a shooting incident in St Mary’s Park during which a sawn-off shotgun was used.

When arrested, the boy was wearing a bullet-proof vest and had a knife. He was arrested with another youth, aged 19, in St Mary’s Park on Wednesday in connection with a gun attack in the estate at about 6.15am that day.

A sawn-off shotgun was recovered in a garden near the scene of the shooting.

Gardaí had stopped the two earlier at around 1.30am in a car in St Mary’s Park. After being questioned at Henry Street they were freed. The shooting happened a short time later and the two were arrested at about 10am on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old has since been freed, but the younger boy is still being held under section 30 of the Offences against the State Act.

The sawn-off shotgun has been sent to the ballistics section at Garda headquarters for forensic tests.

Extra armed patrols have been in place around St Mary’s Park since a gun attack last week in which six houses were raked with machine-gun fire.

Garda commissioner Fachtna Murphy ordered the deployment of the ERU to Limerick to back up local armed units to tackle an upsurge in gun crime in the city.

Meanwhile, gardaí at Roxboro Road Garda Station yesterday arrested four men in connection with an attempted murder in Limerick city centre on January 11. Jonathan Fitzgerald, aged 18, from Garryowen received a bullet wound to the neck when he was chased along Parnell Street at about 6pm. He was on the critical list at the intensive care unit at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital for a number of days.

A member of the McCarthy-Dundon gang is the prime suspect.

Gardaí in Limerick were also questioning five Polish men yesterday after herbal cannabis worth about €180,000 was found in the car in which they were travelling. The drugs were found concealed in a false fuel tank fitted to the car.