TWO MEN are being questioned after gardaí foiled an attempted gun murder late on Wednesday night linked to a gangland feud that has already cost three lives. One of the men under arrest is suspected of involvement in a Dublin gun murder last year.
Wednesday night’s dramatic events began just before 10.30pm when a member of the public rang Coolock Garda station in north Dublin to report two men acting suspiciously in a car at Riverside Park, Clonshaugh.
A patrol car went to the scene immediately. When gardaí pulled their vehicle alongside, the two men rammed the Garda vehicle in their stolen Audi sports car.
The garda driving the patrol car managed to pin the suspects’ car in. The three unarmed officers, one of whom is a reservist, broke the window of the Audi and arrested one man in the vehicle.
The other suspect managed to flee on foot across a green area in the centre of Riverside Park. He then tried to escape by breaking into a house and hiding in the kitchen. However, two members of the Garda’s divisional task force from nearby Santry arrived and with the unarmed gardaí from Coolock arrested the second man.
A search of the men’s car yielded a loaded Magnum 357 revolver. A can of petrol and rags were also found in the Audi A5 Coupe, which was stolen in Cabinteely, south Dublin, last month.
Gardaí believe the rags and petrol found in the would-be attackers’ car were to be used to set the vehicle on fire after the shooting. Balaclavas were also found in the vehicle.
Detectives believe the arrested men were waiting for a man who lives in Riverside Park to return home so they could shoot him. The man was just about to arrive home when gardaí moved in.
Both suspects, aged 18 and 22, are from the north inner city and are being held at Coolock and Santry Garda stations. They are being questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and can be held for 72 hours without charge.
The Irish Times understands a number of criminals have been seen in recent months carrying out surveillance on the house of the man that was to be shot on Wednesday evening. Gardaí warned the man his life was in danger. He has a conviction for armed robbery. He survived a shooting a number of years ago when he was badly wounded.
The men arrested in Riverside are aligned to one of two rival criminal factions based mainly around Sheriff Street, Dublin. Gardaí are linking Wednesday night’s foiled shooting to that feud.
The two opposing groups were once associates but their drugs and armed robbery gang split when its leader, Christy Griffin, was accused of raping his stepdaughter. Griffin (39), originally from Canon Lillis Avenue, Dublin, is currently serving a life sentence for those rapes.
Two men, Stephen Ledden (28) and Gerard Batt-Byrne (25), were both killed in gun attacks in the north inner city in December 2006 as part of the feud. Anthony Russell (30), Kilmore, was shot dead in the Ardlea Inn, Artane, last April. He was suspected of being the gunman in the Batt-Byrne killing.
The man who was to be shot on Wednesday night is aligned to the Griffin side of the feud. He was a very close associate of Anthony Russell. Gardaí are working on the theory that the opposing faction wanted the target dead because they feared he might seek revenge for Anthony Russell’s murder.
One of the arrested men is suspected of involvement in the shooting dead of Gavin McCarthy (21) on Sheriff Street last October. Gardaí believe Mr McCarthy was shot over a personal matter.