LIMERICK'S LATEST gangland victim may have been singled out simply because he was loosely associated with one of the main gangs at the centre of a violent long-running feud.
Mark Moloney (40), was "not an active player" in Limerick's much-publicised feud but was targeted simply because of his relationship with a member of the Keane/Collopy faction.
Mr Moloney was walking through Garryowen - not riding a bicycle as initially believed - and had stopped to talk to a man who was painting a house near Garryowen Stores when he was shot dead by a passenger of a black Toyota Celica.
The rival McCarthy/Dundon criminal gang are the chief suspects behind the callous killing, which took place in the middle of the day and despite the recent deployment of the Garda Emergency Response Unit to Limerick.
Last January Mark Moloney was lucky to escape serious injury when his 21-year-old nephew was injured in a shooting, which took place again in broad daylight near Colbert Station in Limerick city as both men were walking along Parnell Street.
Three people were arrested and questioned about this shooting last Wednesday but were released without charge before the weekend.
"Mark Moloney was not an active player in the feud and was not a member of any of the criminal gangs, but he would have known people who were," said one source.
A single man, Mr Moloney suffered multiple gun shot wounds when he was shot at 2.45pm on Saturday close to his home on Claughaun Road, Garryowenk.
It was initially believed he was travelling on a bicycle when he was ambushed. However, gardaí say a bicycle found near the body belonged to someone else.
It is believed there were three people in the black Celica, which was later found burnt out in Drombana, Co Limerick.
Gardaí believe the gunman was sitting in the front passenger seat.
Some witnesses claim that a woman was driving the car.
"The victim was standing on a footpath talking to a man who was working up on a ladder when a black Toyota Celica car with a TS registration drove up south Claughaun road and stopped and fired a number of shots," said Insp John O'Reilly.
"We are interested in talking to anyone who was in the Garryowen area on Saturday afternoon between 2pm and 3pm and who may have seen the black Toyota Celica car or its occupants. We would be anxious to speak to anyone who heard or saw anything suspicious," he said.
State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy travelled to Limerick yesterday to carry out a postmortem.
A Garda spokesman said there is no link between the murder and a shooting at a house in O'Malley Park in Southill earlier that day.
A man escaped injury when an intruder fired a shot at 6am.
Both the man and his partner were in bed when they heard a window smash downstairs. When he went to investigate a person with a handgun fired a shot at the him and then fired a second shot at the house while leaving.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested and questioned at the weekend about the incident.
