‘This feud is only starting’: 30 pellets left in baby’s leg after shooting

An eight-month-old boy was lucky to escape with his life after he, along with his mother and teenage uncle, were blasted with a shotgun in broad daylight.

It is thought that up to 30 pellets struck his leg, breaking it.

His mother, aged 29, who is understood to have been holding her son at her hip, received injuries to her hand. The boy’s uncle, aged 17, was shot in the stomach.

“There were a number of shots fired, probably two,” said a Garda source, “and, depending on the grade of the cartridge and number of ball bearings inside, there could be 60-70 pellets in a cartridge. They could have gone anywhere, in the child’s head, his heart, an artery, anywhere. Same with his mum and the teenager.”

Gardaí keep members of two families apart as one of the families prepares to leave the scene of a shooting. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Arthur Collins, the baby’s grandfather and father of the teenager, said: “It has gone that far now that they are going to kill children. This has to be the lowest of the low I have ever come across.”

The attack happened at lunchtime yesterday at a small, settled Travellers’ residential area in Parslickstown Gardens in Mulhuddart, Blanchardstown, north west Dublin. Gardaí suspect the attack is part of a long-running feud and fear there will be further violence.

Speaking at the scene, Superintendent Liam Carolan of Blanchardstown Garda Station described the situation as “volatile”.

A man was arrested after the shooting when officers searched his house and found shotgun cartridges.

Gardaí examine the scene of the shooting in Parslickstown Gardens, which investigators believe was part of a long-running feud.

Mr Collins said when he first heard the shots he thought they were bangers.

“I heard bang, bang, bang… I ran out, I saw my son on the ground,” he said. “I held the blood from my son. He [the gunman] could have killed someone here. My son is fighting for his life. I don’t know if he is going to live or die.

“This feud is only starting.”

The baby was taken to the Temple Street Children’s Hospital, while the teenager was taken to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. Neither injures are thought to be life-threatening.

Supt Carolan said there were “conflicting reports” as to whether the gunman was on foot or in a vehicle, but said for a shotgun to inflict the wounds it did, it must have been fired from “close range”. He appealed to anybody who saw a car driving at high speed, or any suspicious or unusual behaviour, in the Parslickstown area on Monday afternoon to contact Blanchardstown Station.

The man arrested, aged in his 30s, was detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act on suspicion of possessing ammunition.