Gardaí examine CCTV in gun deaths

Garda teams probing separate gun murders in Dublin and Laois were yesterday examining CCTV footage and conducting extensive local inquiries.

They are trying to trace the movements of cars used in the murders and gather any evidence identifying the two hit teams.

Meanwhile, specialist Garda child investigators were moving sensitively in their bid to interview children of both victims, who witnessed the murders in each case.

Gerard Eglington, 27, was shot at his home in Portarlington, Co Laois, at 8.30am on Monday in front of his 11-year-old step-daughter and three-year-old son.

Less than 12 hours later, Declan O’Reilly, 32, was shot dead as he walked home with his 12-year-old son on South Circular Rd, in Dublin’s south inner city.

Superintendent Thady Muldoon said on Tuesday there was “absolutely nothing to indicate any connection” between the murders.

Eglington was a senior member of one of the two Crumlin-Drimnagh gangs engaged in a vicious feud, which up until his death had claimed an estimated 13 lives since 2001.

Gardaí suspect Eglington was killed by the rival gang in retaliation for a vicious assault on a senior member of that gang in Mar 2011.

O’Reilly was a well-known criminal, but gardaí said he was not associated with either gang.

Detectives in that case are following a number of lines of inquiry. A main line is that he was killed in retaliation for the violent death of drug dealer Derek Glennon in Mountjoy Prison in 2007. In Feb 2011, he was acquitted of his murder and death threats were made by associates of Glennon.

Supt Muldoon made specific appeals in relation to the car used in the murder of O’Reilly. A silver BMW 3 Series, registration 04 D 48695, had been stolen overnight last Tuesday week from Clondalkin, west Dublin. After the shooting, the car was found burnt out in the Tenters area, off South Circular Rd.

Gardaí are hoping people may have seen the car parked up before the murder and that people in the Tenters area may have seen the occupants leave the burning vehicle.

Detectives investigating Eglington’s murder are examining CCTV footage in Portarlington that might identify his killers.

There are reports the killers may have been in the town for a number of days beforehand and could have been caught on cameras. It is thought the men were not masked when they carried out the attack. Gardaí are appealing to residents in Kilnacourt Woods estate to come forward.

Gardaí are also asking for sightings of the car used in the murder, a dark blue Mazda 6, registration 05 KY 934, which had been stolen from Castleknock, north-west Dublin, last August.