A man gunned down on a busy suburban Dublin street in the latest gangland murder was a suspected killer and well-known gang figure.
Christopher Zambra (38) spotted the gunmen who ambushed him just moments before they opened fire yesterday and tried to flee.
However, he was wounded several times and collapsed and died outside a house on Cooley Road, Drimnagh, in south Dublin, just yards from where he abandoned his Audi car. The getaway vehicle, a black Nissan Qashqai, was found on fire near the murder scene. A handgun, believed to be the murder weapon, was found inside.
He was associated with a north Dublin man suspected of ordering the murder in 2012 of Real IRA figure Alan Ryan.
Eighth gun murder
His was the eighth gun murder of the year and he died as a local woman comforted him. He was acquitted last June of the murder in February 2009 of drugs importer John Carroll.
The 33-year-old from Charlemont Street in Dublin’s inner city was shot dead as he socialised in Grumpy Jacks pub in the Coombe.
The State alleged Zambra had organised the murder and had offered €30,000 to those who carried it out.
However, Zambra was acquitted after the jury did not accept the testimony of a man in the witness protection programme. It was the second time he had gone on trial for the killing, with a jury failing to agree a verdict two years earlier.
