GARDAÍ WERE last night trying to piece together the circumstances surrounding the shooting dead of a middle-aged man whose house was attacked by young teenagers moments before he was gunned down in north inner-city Dublin.
Garda sources said the dead man, a Dubliner in his 50s, was not known to them. While the murder investigation is in its early stages the killing is not believed to be linked to gangland crime.
The murder was the 20th gun murder this year and came less than a month after Limerick man Shane Geoghegan (28) was shot dead despite also having no involvement whatever in crime.
It is understood the victim of last night’s murder was at his home on Shelmalier Rd, East Wall, Dublin 3, when his house or car was damaged by missiles thrown by a number of youths. It appears the dead man ran from his home after the young teenagers.
He pursued members of the group on to nearby Bargy Rd where he was shot at about 7.15pm.
Gardaí were last night trying to determine if the attack on the man’s property and his pursuit of the teenagers was linked to the murder.
One passerby last night said at first people in the area did not realise what had happened.
“Then the ambulance came and you could see they were frantically trying to revive him. After a short period the guards gave the ambulance an escort from the scene. There was a lot of people around at that stage. It was shocking, pretty unbelievable.”
The victim was taken by ambulance to the Mater hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The man was from Dublin, aged 51 years and had lived on Shelmalier Rd for some time.
