Checkpoint shooting victim named

Investigators from the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman’s office tonight named the man shot dead by police at a road block .

He was Steven Craig Colwell, 23, from Main Street in the village of Cullybackey outside Ballymena, Co Antrim.

He is understood to have been the driver of a silver BMW which the Ombudsman’s office confirmed had been stolen.

Police opened fire on the car in Ballynahinch, Co Down on Sunday morning, after attempts had been made to stop the vehicle at the road point.

Five people travelling in the car with Colwell were arrested at the scene by the Police Service of Northern Ireland but bailed earlier today.

However, the three men and two women spent the day being interviewed by members of the 15 strong Ombudsman’s investigating team, said a spokesman.

As the investigation continued, the Ombudsman’s team appealed for any witnesses to the incident to contact them.

The shots were fired at the car at a vehicle checkpoint set up outside the PSNI station in the centre of Ballynahinch.

Police in the market town had been warned a short time before that the vehicle was heading their way.

The BMW is believed to have travelled from Ballykinlar, about 12 miles away, and was heading in the direction of Belfast – the main road to the city runs through Ballynahinch.

After the shooting, the body of Mr Colwell was left lying beside the vehicle and a priest who had been conducting Easter Sunday Mass in a nearby church performed the last rites.

The Ombudsman’s office spokesman said it would be several months until a report on their investigation would be passed to the PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde.

“They will be no interim report,” he said.

Orde has come under pressure from some nationalist politicians to suspend the officers involved in the shooting, but it was confirmed by the PSNI that no such action would be taken before the report was received.

Nevertheless Eddie McGrady, the SDLP MP for the area in which the shooting took place, called for a probe into police use of guns.

He said: “The fundamental fact remains that a police firearm was used, presumably in protection of life.

“This is the second such incident in a relatively short period in which firearms were used in a car pursuit. One would have to examine the rationale behind use of potentially lethal force and the policy surrounding it.

“Obviously a full inquiry is required immediately, and the officers involved should be relieved of their duties pending clarification of the incident and the code of conduct pertaining to use of lethal weapons.”