Mother and baby escape injury in hail of gunfire

A seven-month-old baby narrowly avoided being shot dead when gunmen sprayed a house with bullets in an attack gardaí likened to “a gangster movie”.

The baby’s mother had leaned down to care for the child when up to 15 shots were fired into her home, one of them grazing her back.

“If she was standing up with the baby, we could have been looking at the murder of a baby and a mother,” a Garda source said.

There were two mothers, aged 18 and 25, and five children, aged seven months to six years, in the house at Knockbrack Close, Drogheda, Co Louth, at the time of the shooting.

Detectives believe the attack is linked to a Traveller feud and are bracing for further violence.

The 25-year-old woman was downstairs with her baby in the sitting room when the attack happened at 9.15pm on Thursday.

“They sprayed the house with in excess of 13 bullets from a semi-automatic pistol or machine gun,” said a Garda source. “That would have taken a second. They were blessed.”

The 18-year-old was upstairs with the four other children at the time. They were uninjured.

A second Garda source said: “The house was peppered with bullets, It was something you would see in a gangster movie.”

A single gunman is thought to have been responsible and gardaí believe he used a grey Kia Ceed car to make his escape. It was found on fire approximately 3km away at Platin, Co Meath, a short time later.

Gardaí yesterday appealed for anyone who saw anything suspicious or who has information on the shooting to contact them.

The appeal was reiterated by the mayor of Drogheda, Richie Culhane, who said the incident happened exactly a week after another gun attack on a family home in Termonfeckin, just north of Drogheda.

“There is a proliferation of gun crime in the North East at the minute,” said Mr Culhane. “Now, I don’t believe we are any different to any other major town in Ireland, but it was only luck that prevented someone from being killed or badly injured last night.”

Mr Culhane called on locals and anyone with information on the shooting to co-operate with gardaí carrying out house-to- house enquiries.

“It is important for the whole community that the people involved are brought before the courts,” he said. “The fact that children were in the house shows the sort of individual or individuals involved.”

Meanwhile, gardaí are continuing to investigate the shooting of the 42-year-old Drogheda man last week in Termonfeckin.

They is nothing to suggest the two incidents are connected.

Anyone with information can contact Drogheda Garda Station on 041 987 4200 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.