Gang fued feared after man shot dead in Dublin

Fears were growing today that a feud between rival factions in Dublin would escalate after a member of a criminal gang was shot dead.

Thomas Joyce became the 15th gun murder victim of the year when he was gunned down on a halting site in north Dublin last night.

The 20-year-old was shot several times close to his home in Clare Hall as he tried to run for cover.

Sources said Joyce, a member of the travelling community, was well known to gardaí and a member of a big, well-organised drug trafficking gang.

Earlier this year the Criminal Assets Bureau succeed in having two cars seized from the victim after the High Court found they were purchased from the proceeds of crime.

A large quantity of cocaine, cannabis, firearms and ammunition have also been recovered during raids in and around the halting site on Grove Lane on the Malahide Road in recent years.

It is understood Joyce had tried to outrun his killer as he was pursued by the gunman in a car at around 7.30pm.

He was taken to Beaumont Hospital with gunshot wounds to his body and head and was pronounced dead a short time later.

A post mortem will be carried out today.

Forensic officers will also painstakingly search the crime scene for clues, while detectives try to establish an exact motive for the attack.

The investigation will centre on the victim’s criminal and drug dealing ties and possible links with tit-for-tat gangland style killings in the area in recent months.

Joyce was murdered close to where the body of drug dealer David Fred Lynch was found in undergrowth on March 30.

It is believed the 26-year-old, from Ferrycarrig in Coolock, had been shot as part of a localised drugs feud.

Five weeks later his former associate, BJ Clarke, was gunned down after being targeted in an Artane underground car park.

The 21-year-old had also been shot in the leg the night before Lynch’s killing.