Crime boss shot six times in crowded pub

ONE of the country’s most notorious crime bosses was shot six times in the head and body during a night out in a packed local pub, a post-mortem examination has revealed.

Eamon Dunne was gunned down at the Faussagh House bar in the north Dublin suburb of Cabra on Friday evening as terrified customers looked on.

Two masked gunmen walked into the busy neighbourhood pub, where it is thought Dunne was attending a birthday party, and riddled the high-profile gangland figure with bullets from an automatic pistol.

It is understood the shooting may have been captured on CCTV cameras and Dunne’s 17-year-old daughter was present and witnessed the killing.

Despite murder-squad detectives pleading for witnesses to come forward, it is understood no one in the bar on the night has yet provided any information.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Seamus McGrattan said he spoke with two shocked people who were at the function at the pub on Faussagh Avenue.

“The magnitude of what happened is affecting people. It was so easily done. The fact that you could walk straight into a pub and shoot the man several times and walk straight back out again, and do it in a couple of seconds,” he said.

“I spoke to a couple of people who were there, and they’re obviously quite shaken by what they saw.”

Mr McGrattan said the witnesses claimed the revellers were ordered to lie on the ground, while a gunman stood guard at the door.

“He (the gunman) knew exactly where the man was. They (customers) were taken aback when they came in. Of course, people didn’t know what was going on, but you don’t take a chance, you just duck to the ground. They fired shots and they were gone. It was literally a few seconds between when they came in and left.”

The killing happened at around 10pm and the pair, armed with at least one gun, fled the scene with two other men in a silver-coloured saloon car, similar to a Ford Mondeo or Volkswagen Passat.

A spokesman for Justice Minister Dermot Ahern branded the killing abhorrent and stressed new laws were now in place to tackle gangland crime.

“The minister has brought in fairly stringent and tough laws to deal with gangland criminals,” he said. “That legislation is in place and the Gardaí are very, very advanced in a whole range of enquiries across gangland, which the minister is hopeful will see results in the coming months.”

Fine Gael and Labour expressed outrage at the killing and called for Gardaí to be properly resourced to tackle the criminal underworld.

Fine Gael senator Paschal Donohoe said: “This happened in front of innocent people, and it’s extremely fortunate that no one was caught up in the crossfire.

“There have already been far too many innocent victims of gangland crime. It shows clearly just how vulnerable bystanders are when gangland criminals are intent on murder.”