‘I want to show you impact of gun attack on my daughter’

“This is my daughter Ciara. I would just like to show you the impact of this.”

It was an image that spoke volumes, the photograph of innocent victim Ciara Sheehan, 21, shot in the neck at the weekend, lying in her hospital bed at Cork University Hospital (CUH),

Her distraught mother Susan O’Mahony shared the image with the Irish Examiner so readers could see the awful aftermath of the injury to her daughter, shot while visiting her boyfriend’s house in the northside of Cork city in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Ciara Sheehan, who was shot in the neck after a gun attack on her boyfriend’s family home

Gardaí made a breakthrough in the investigation yesterday when they recovered an automatic pistol from waste ground in the Shanakiel area, close to the scene of the shooting.

It is hoped that ballistic tests on the bullet removed during emergency surgery on Ms Sheehan will allow detectives connect it to the recovered gun.

Ms Sheehan remains in a stable condition.

Gardaí at the scene of the shooting in Hollyhill, Cork City, Subday morning