Gardaí believe a shooting in Finglas, Dublin, which left a man critically ill, was linked to the death of a prisoner in Cloverhill Prison just hours earlier.
The intended victim of Sunday's shooting had been embroiled in a bitter dispute with the well-known Finglas criminal Declan Curran, who was found dead in his cell at Cloverhill on Sunday morning.
Detectives are working on the theory that associates of Curran opened fire on the house at Ratoath Drive in an act of defiance following his death. The house had been targeted during a number of recent gun attacks in which Curran was suspected of involvement. The feud dates back to the late 1990s, when Curran, who was 24 when he died, was just a teenager.
The victim of Sunday's attack went to his hall door at around 8.15 p.m. to investigate noise coming from outside the house. When he opened the door the occupants of a silver Subaru car,which had pulled up outside, were standing in the garden. They opened fire and hit the victim once in the torso. Gardaí believe two of the three men were armed with a shotgun and a handgun and that both weapons were discharged twice during the attack.
The emergency services were called and the victim, a man in his early 40s, was taken to Blanchardstown hospital where his condition was described as critical last night. He had been hit with one bullet fired from the handgun, which punctured his lung before exiting his body.
Gardaí are appealing for anyone with information on the shooting, or anybody who was in the vicinity of Ratoath Drive at the time, to come forward.
The shooting has led to fears that a fresh outbreak of feuding may be about to erupt in west Dublin.
Meanwhile, a post-mortem carried out on Curran's remains has proven inconclusive. It is hoped that results of toxicology tests will determine the cause of death.
