GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the murder of an 18-year-old Dundalk man believe there are people withholding information on the killing, including the motive, and have appealed for them to contact them.
Even before the postmortem confirmed that Niall Dorr from Avondale Park had been murdered, gardaí were treating the investigation as a de facto murder inquiry.
Upwards of 40 gardaí are involved and a dedicated incident room has been established.
Niall Dorr, who had ambitions to join the Irish Army, was the victim of an assault as he walked with two friends along Castle Road, Dundalk at about 9pm on Wednesday. It is a quiet road with many houses and apartments along it.
It is believed the group of friends became involved in an altercation with another group of up to six men and one woman.
In all around 10 people were involved in the on-street incident which attracted the attention of some local residents.
At a press conference yesterday Garda Supt Gerry Curley, Dundalk appealed for people to come forward and talk to them and in particular a motorist who flagged down a passing patrol car.
“We are asking that motorist to contact us here at Dundalk Garda station on 042-9388470,” he said. Gardaí also want to talk to everybody who was in the Castle Road area at about 9pm on Wednesday.
Supt Curley said the Garda “are exploring all avenues”, in relation to a possible motive and “we are examining the whole lead up to the incident and all aspects of it”.
A post-mortem was carried out by the State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy at the Louth County Hospital, Dundalk. Gardaí did not release the conclusions of her examination.
Supt Curley said: “I would like to thank the public for their great support, but I believe there are people who have information who have not yet come forward. I am appealing to them to do so.”
He said the investigation was ongoing and included looking at the movements of the victim in the hours before the altercation.
The road has seen heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic this week as thousands of people travel by it on their way to attend the annual novenas to St Gerard.
Two men were arrested on Thursday night on suspicion of assault causing harm to Mr Dorr and remained in Garda custody yesterday. A third man was arrested yesterday afternoon and taken to Drogheda Garda station, all men were detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.