A GARDA investigation is under way after a man was shot in the head at a popular north Co Dublin caravan park.
Detectives are trying to determine if the attack, just after 4.30pm yesterday in Donabate, is linked to a feud in the north inner city that has already claimed one life.
The victim, a 51-year-old man from Summerhill, Dublin , was shot in the head at the Vivian Hand caravan park, off Corballis Road, near Donabate Golf Club. He was attacked by at least two men, one of whom was armed with a pistol. The victim was outside a caravan he owns when he was approached and shot.
At least two rounds were discharged and officers recovered spent casings from the scene.
The attackers escaped in a stolen vehicle, which was later found burned out at Turvey Woods, Donabate. That area was also sealed off and was being examined by gardaí last night.
The victim was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken by ambulance to Beaumont Hospital. Garda sources said he was in a critical condition last night and that his injuries were life-threatening.
The scene of the shooting was sealed off immediately and the area was examined by officers.
A thorough forensic examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau will take place today.
The caravan park where the attack occurred is a popular holiday and weekend-away destination with families from Dublin city. It was very busy as families holidayed on what was the first busy weekend of the summer.
The man wounded in yesterday’s attack escaped injury a number of years ago after a hand grenade exploded when thrown at a house in the north inner city.
That incident was linked to a dispute between two men from the north inner city, one of whom is associated with the man shot in Donabate.
That dispute began about five years ago when the men, who were at one time close friends, fell out in an argument over damage to a car. Tensions escalated over time, resulting in a street fight in which a young woman suffered stab wounds and a man sustained serious head injuries.
There was then a lull in hostilities before a young man was shot dead as part of the feud.
While the ongoing violence is regarded by gardaí as a personal feud rather than a gangland dispute, one of the young men involved has been before the courts in the past in relation to a major narcotics seizure.
Investigating officers now believe the shooting of the man in Donabate is the latest incident in the ongoing feud.
Garda patrols were stepped up in parts of Dublin’s north inner city last night for fear of reprisal attacks.