A murder investigation has begun after a young man was found dead in an apartment in Drumcondra, north Dublin, having sustained gunshot wounds.
The dead man has been named locally as 28-year-old Sean McCarthy, from Poppintree on the northside of Dublin, who was reported missing last Tuesday
A man in his 30s was arrested and is being questioned by gardaí investigating the circumstances surrounding the discovery of Mr McCarthy’s body in an apartment in Achill Hill. Drumcondra, on Saturday evening.
The body of the deceased remained at the scene overnight Saturday and was removed by ambulance on Sunday afternoon. The office of the State Pathologist was notified and a postmortem was due to get under way at Dublin City Mortuary.
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The scene has been preserved for a forensic and technical examination by members of the Garda technical bureau.
Cllr Mary Callaghan, who represents the Social Democrats in the area of Ballymun-Finglas, said it was a tragic outcome for a family whose son had been reported missing.
“I know he [Mr McCarthy] was missing. There were appeals on social media. The family were pretty frantic trying to find where he was. And this now is a horrific incident that the community has to deal with. Obviously I would give my condolences to his family and friends and also appeal to anyone who has information to assist the gardaí on this. Because we really want to find out what happened so the family can have closure on it. But really a shocking incident and a heartbreaking end to a search for someone in the community.”
An area of Griffith Park in Drumcondra was sealed off as part of the Garda investigation.
Members of the Garda water unit undertook searches of a short stretch of the Tolka river between two footbridges that had been sealed off for a time on Sunday morning. An item was recovered from the water. It will be examined to establish if it is linked to the Garda investigation.
The detained man is being questioned in a north Dublin Garda station under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007. He can be held for up to seven days. An incident room has been established at Ballymun Garda station and inquiries are ongoing.
Local residents in Drumcondra said on Sunday they were “shocked” by the discovery of the man’s body. “It is absolutely terrible, my thoughts and prayers go out to the young man’s family,” an older woman living in the area said. “This is generally a very quiet area, we’ve never had anything happen like this ever before, it’s terrible.”
A man who has lived in the locality for more than 10 years said he was “appalled” to hear of the young’s man death.
