Gangland victim died in hail of bullets

The latest victim of gangland warfare was gunned down in a hail of bullets as he fled several armed men, it emerged tonight.

Thomas Joyce became the 15th gun killing of the year when he was shot in broad daylight on a halting site in the north of the city on Wednesday night.

He was shot several times close to his home in Clare Hall as he fled for cover on Wednesday evening.

A blue Ford Focus estate, believed to have been the gang’s getaway car, was found burnt-out in a housing area in nearby Coolock.

Sources said Joyce, a Traveller, was well known to gardaí and a member of a large, well-organised drug trafficking gang.

Opposition politicians condemned the murder claiming it was another example of the state’s inability to stem the spiralling violence.

Fine Gael’s justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan hit out at Government cutbacks despite the continued killings.

“While criminal gangs continue to flourish, swingeing cutbacks to Garda resources are undermining their ability to tackle gangland crime head-on,” he said.

“The most recent gangland murder in Coolock coupled with two other violent deaths in the last 24 hours in Tipperary and Killarney, are extremely worrying developments in the context of shrinking budgets.”

Joan Burton, Labour TD, raised the killing in the Dáil and called for time in Leinster House to debate the Government’s response to organised crime.

The Labour TD compared the gangland murders to the notorious time of gangster Al Capone in 1920s Chicago.

“The public living in all of these areas, including my own, feel utterly helpless,” she said.

“I want to ask if the Government will it provide time for a debate in relation to the spree of lawlessness and killing and crime that is absolutely blighting whole areas of our major cities and towns.”

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.

Earlier this year the Criminal Assets Bureau succeeded 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.

Superintendent Mark Curran from Coolock Garda Station appealed for anyone in the area at the time of the brutal killing to come forward.

“The suspects in this case may have left in a blue Ford Focus estate and travelled towards the Darndale roundabout,” he said.

“A car possibly linked to this crime was found burned out in the Balgriffin Cottages area of Coolock.

“I’m also appealing to any person who may have information in respect of this crime to contact the incident room in Coolock.”

It is understood Joyce had tried to outrun his killers as he was pursued 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.

Local Labour councillor Paddy Bourke said the area was shocked by the killing.

“It’s happening far too often these days and it all seems to have something to do with the drugs trade.

“They’re all fighting for territory.”