Murder probe gardaí make guns find

Detectives investigating the fatal shooting of a man outside his family home recovered two handguns, they revealed tonight.

One of the weapons is believed to have been used in the killing of Stephen O’Halloran, 20, at Kilmartin Drive, Tallaght, south Dublin.

The guns were found during planned searches yesterday, gardaí said.

In a separate investigation, two other handguns and heroin believed to be worth €87,000 were seized in Finglas, north Dublin.

A Garda spokesman said they were recovered in wasteground in the area earlier today as part of an organised crime investigation.

All the seized firearms have been sent for forensic examination at the Garda Technical Bureau.

O'Halloran was gunned down on Monday night, in what detectives believe was a pre-emptive strike by a drugs gang to prevent him moving into the trade.

The two 9mm handguns believed to be linked to the murder were discovered in a garden near Kilmartin Drive, where he was gunned down.

The victim, known as a petty criminal and a “hard man” in the area, was shot four times in the chest and once in the head as he sat in the driving seat of his car.

Two friends who were also in the green Renault Megane were badly injured in the attack shortly before midnight, but were expected to survive.

In Finglas, where the other two guns and heroin were recovered, gardai are continuing to investigate the killing of Graham McNally, 34, yesterday evening.

The known gangland figure was believed to have been lured to his death on the old Ashbourne Road by his crime boss, before being shot several times in the head.

The two murders, which bring the gangland-linked death toll to four already this year, have sparked fears of an escalation in the bloodshed.

On January 7, heroin dealer Michael “Roly” Cronin was shot dead in a car in Summerhill while another man in the vehicle, James Maloney, died in hospital two days later.

The gunman had been sitting in the rear seat of the vehicle and fled on foot.