A MAN was shot dead and a woman wounded in a gun attack last night linked to a feud between rival drug gangs in the Crumlin and Drimnagh suburbs of Dublin.
The attack in the Tymon estate in Tallaght, west Dublin, is the 11th murder in the Crumlin- Drimnagh feud since 2000, and the eighth gangland murder in Dublin so far this year.
The dead man and his partner were sitting in a parked car outside a house at Tymon North Park just before 8.30pm when a gunman got out of another car, approached their vehicle and opened fire with a handgun. The woman is believed to have struggled with the gunman during the incident.
Gardaí are investigating whether the couple were waiting to meet somebody. A gun was found at the scene.
The dead man was a 27-year-old from Drimnagh. He had a number of convictions, one of which related to a group assault on a number of taximen. He was a known drug dealer and gangland figure and a very close associate of the leader of one of the gangs in the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud.
The gang leader, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been implicated in two murders, one of which he allegedly directed via phone from prison. He is serving three prison terms for drugs, assault and for an incident in which gardaí were shot at.
The woman injured in last night’s shooting is a 26-year-old from Drimnagh. She was in a relationship with the man killed in the attack. Her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening and she is being treated at Tallaght hospital.
Gardaí now fear the relative lull in hostilities in the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud in recent months will be followed by further violence. The area around last night’s murder scene was sealed off by gardaí, and members of the Garda Technical Bureau will this morning begin an examination. The State Pathologist’s Office has also been informed.
