Gardaí question five after shooting
The five men were arrested, as they travelled in two cars in Ballyfermot, within minutes of a 20-year-old man being shot in the lower body in a field in Cherry Orchard, west Dublin, on Monday night.
Gardaí in Ballyfermot received a call just before 10pm on Monday claiming gunshots had been heard in the proximity of Cherry Orchard Hospital. At the scene officers found a man, understood to be 20-year-old Mark Fagan from Windmill Road in Crumlin, with a gunshot wound lying in an area to the rear of Unit 1 of the hospital.
He was rushed to St James’s Hospital, while Gardaí also discovered a burnt-out Honda Civic at Palmer’s Grove close to the scene of the shooting.
Within minutes of the shooting officers from the Garda Organised Crime Unit, backed by members of the Emergency Response Unit, stopped two cars as they travelled along the Ballyfermot Road. The Garda Air Support Unit was also involved. The five men — one aged in his 30s, the others in their 20s — were arrested and taken in for questioning.
The five men are known to gardaí and were being held last night in Ballyfermot, Clondalkin, Lucan and Ronanstown Garda stations. They can be questioned for up to 72 hours.
It is understood investigating gardaí believe the shooting is linked to a feud between criminal gangs in Drimnagh and Crumlin, and garda sources yesterday hailed the arrests.
“These are absolutely great arrests,” a Garda source said. “They would be the ‘A team’ of one of the gang leaders and some would be suspected for other shootings, including the murder of Gary Bryan.”
The feud has already resulted in a number of violent deaths, including that of 31-year-old Mr Bryan, from Tallaght, shot dead outside his girlfriend’s house in Walkinstown in September 2006. He had been charged in connection with the murder of Paul Warren, a member of the rival gang, shot dead in February 2004. Several of the men arrested on Monday night are senior players in a gang led by a notorious crime boss who recently fled to Spain.
It is thought Mr Fagan was chosen as he was considered a “soft target” and “down the pecking order”, although one source said the shooting may have been linked to drugs or drugs money going missing.
Gardaí yesterday continued their examination of the scene of the shooting, with the area to the rear of Cherry Orchard Hospital sealed off. The burnt-out car was also taken away for technical examination.
The victim of the shooting was in a stable condition at St James’s yesterday.
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