Two quizzed after betting-shop murder

Two men were being questioned today in connection with the gangland murder of a man in a betting shop.

The pair were detained hours after suspected drug dealer Chris Barry was shot in the head in Byrne’s Bookmaker’s on Dublin’s north side.

Both men, in their mid-20s, were arrested in the Tallaght area in the south of the city.

The 24-year-old was shot in the head by a lone gunman with punters standing just feet away watching Saturday afternoon horse racing and football.

Fine Gael justice spokesman demanded Justice Minister Dermot Ahern immediately hold a top level security summit with garda chiefs over the upsurge in street attacks.

Gardaí said a gunman, believed to have acted alone, walked into Byrne’s on Killester Avenue at around 3pm yesterday afternoon, singled out his victim and opened fire.

It is thought Barry tried to flee but his attacker shot him in the head at point blank range.

The dead man, from the Killester area, was known among local residents and gardaí and suspected of drug-dealing.

A motorbike, believed to have been used by the gunman in the getaway, was found abandoned just off La Vista Avenue, a few streets from the where the killing took place.

The bike had been set on fire, leaving only a burnt-out shell.

A van seized when the arrests were made and two coats recovered from the murder scene were being forensically examined.

It is the second gun murder in the capital this week after 27-year-old Christopher McDonagh was shot dead on Wednesday at his west Dublin home.

It is also believed to be the 13th suspected gangland killing this year – one more than the total for the whole of last year.

The two arrested men were being held in Raheny and Clontarf garda stations under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.