The shooting dead of a man in west Dublin last night is the latest in a series of recent gun attacks.
The victim was shot and wounded in the chest on Cherrywood Drive in Clondalkin - the same suburb where 21-year-old Dean Johnson was shot dead in the early hours of last Saturday morning.
The victim has been named locally as 39-year-old Jason Carroll. The emergency services were called to the scene, where Mr Carroll was given emergency medical care before being taken to Tallaght Hospital, where he died of his injuries.
A full-scale murder inquiry has now begun.
A masked gunman got into a waiting car after the shooting and was driven from the area at speed. A vehicle was found burning just before 11pm on the Newcastle Road and gardaí believe it was used by the killers.
Mr Carroll, from Bawnogue, Clondalkin, had been living at the house beside where he was shot dead.
Three cars at the shooting scene are to be forensically examined.
A number of residents of Cherrywood Drive were requested to stay in their homes for several hours while Garda technical teams began inspecting the area.
Garda sources said the killing appeared well planned.
“It’s early days yet, but it looks like they were watching him and they had robbed a car to use in the killing and burnt it out afterwards, so there was planning involved and it looks they knew what they were doing,” said one source.
The same source said it was too early to say whether there was any link between last night’s killing and that of Dean Johnson.
Mr Johnson, who was not regarded as a major criminal figure, was gunned down at Harelawn in Clondalkin in the early hours of Saturday after spending the day in a pub.
He had been arrested on Friday in connection with a gang fight that day in Tallaght. Gardaí are actively exploring whether that fight was linked to his killing.
His family has told The Irish Times one of their son’s friends has since called them and and said he believes he himself was the gunman’s intended target.
Last night’s shooting also follows the wounding of two men in an attack in Glasnevin, north Dublin, on Monday morning last.
A 52-year-old man from Ballymun was wounded in the stomach and the suspected gunman, a 31-year-old from Finglas, was also wounded. He was discharged from hospital and was to appear in court this morning in relation to the incident.
Hidden shotgun
Gardaí believe he had a shotgun hidden in his tracksuit bottoms which did not have the safety catch on. Detectives are operating on the theory that when he took up the gun to shoot his target as he cycled from a laneway, the weapon accidentally went off, wounding him in the foot and lower leg.
He proceeded with his plan, wounding the victim before trying to escape with the gun on the pushbike. However, he collapsed close by due to his wounds.
When gardaí arrived after people reported hearing gunshots they found the suspect lying on the ground close to his bicycle and a gun.
They also found the victim, who survived and is still in hospital, in the front garden of a house.
In an unrelated attack, a man was shot three weeks ago while in his car in Dublin’s north inner city. He managed to drive, wounded, to a nearby Garda station and survived.
Last month, Michael Kelly (27) was shot dead at a Luas stop in Rialto, south Dublin. Also in July, Dublin Karl Wynne (45) died some six weeks after being shot outside a shopping centre in Tallaght, west Dublin.
Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to last night’s fatal shooting or anyone who was in the area between 10pm and 10.45pm and saw any unusual to contact Clondalkin Garda station at 01-6667600 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
Additional reporting: PA
