SDLP councillor shoots at gang during attack

An SDLP councillor was forced to open fire outside his home in Northern Ireland amid fears a gang was planning a bomb attack on him, it emerged today.

SDLP representative Danny O’Connor fired four bullets from a gun after his mother’s car was vandalised at their house in Larne, Co Antrim, overnight.

Mr O’Connor, who has endured a vicious campaign of loyalist paramilitary intimidation, said he believed his life was under threat.

He said: “There was one fella who looked to be in the act of throwing something – I don’t know if it was a stone or a pipe bomb – but at the time, when you have to react to something like that, everything just seems to happen instantaneously.

“I was really scared because I thought it might have been a pipe bomb because my late brother had been pipe-bombed.

“I fired four quick shots over the top of their heads – they ran away. I was really afraid for my life, to be honest with you.”

Mr O’Connor was first alerted after seeing two men on special cameras installed at his home in Churchill Road.

Security has been stepped up at the property following a series of attacks against the outspoken critic of loyalist terrorism, which has been rife in Larne.

No-one was injured during the incident at around 12.45am but a car belonging to Mr O’Connor’s mother had tar poured over it.

When he disturbed the intruders, the former Northern Ireland Assembly member said he believed he had to get out his legally-held gun to protect his family.

He added: “I saw two figures on the camera and thought it was the police. By the time I went out, I realised that it wasn’t the police and that I was in a bit of danger.”