Gardaí closing in on shooting suspects

Gardaí are closing in on key suspects for the gangland murder of a 30-year-old man in south Tipperary last Wednesday.

Detectives have drawn up a shortlist of people who might be behind the shooting of Shane Rossiter in the rural village of Golden.

Garda sources expect there will be “movement” in the coming days, involving the possible arrest of several people.

Officers suspect that a Clonmel-based drug gang was behind the murder and that Rossiter may have owed them a relatively small amount of money.

Rossiter was gunned down early in the morning when his killers called to the door of the terraced house. The victim was in the house with three other people, including a Dublin criminal.

Gardaí had investigated whether this criminal, from Crumlin, might have been the intended target. This individual is linked to Declan O’Reilly, who was gunned down in Dublin’s south inner city last month, and he believed his own life was under threat.

However, detectives are satisfied Rossiter was the intended target. They believe he owed money to dealers from Clonmel.

“This is not a regional issue or a national issue, but a strictly local one to Clonmel and Golden,” said a garda source.

Local detectives are working round the clock on the murder and are understood to be making progress.

Sources said they were hopeful they would be able to solve the murder and be in a position to recommend charges to the DPP in time.

Gardaí said a dark-coloured car was used by the killers, but they have received no reports of any such cars having been found burnt out. They believe that if this car was recovered it could contain key forensic evidence.

Gardaí have gathered what CCTV footage is available, but this is not thought to have been extensive enough, or of good enough quality, to be of much assistance.

Rossiter had almost 20 criminal convictions, including assault, burglary, drugs, and public order.

He travelled to Australia in recent years but was subsequently deported for criminal behaviour. He then lived in Dublin and in Crumlin with his criminal friend for a time, before returning to Golden.

Family members said the death of his younger brother Brian 10 years ago hit Rossiter hard.