GARDAÍ ARE investigating the shooting dead of two men and the wounding of a 16-year-old boy during a suspected drug-related machine gun attack last night.
Gardaí are satisfied that the teenage boy who was wounded in the attack was an innocent victim and not a target for the gunmen. The 16-year-old is believed to have been with the victims, sitting in the back seat of the car, when it was fired on.
The fatal gun attack brings to 14 the number of people shot dead so far this year and was the second double gun murder of 2010.
The latest double killing occurred at about 8pm when the car in which the two victims, brothers in their 30s, were travelling was riddled with shots from a machine gun or a similar automatic weapon on Neilstown Road, Clondalkin, west Dublin.
The dead brothers, aged 35 and 32 years, were from Ballyfermot. They had not been formally named last night but sources confirmed they were Kenneth and Paul Corbally, with a previous address at Drumfinn Avenue, Ballyfermot.
Gardaí said the men’s car was shot at from the driver’s side of the vehicle, most likely by a gunman travelling in a passing car. All of the windows were shattered by the gunfire and the driver’s door and rear passenger door were riddled with gunfire.
A burnt-out car was found in the Foxborough area last night about a mile from the murder scene, near the Moorefield estate of the Neilstown Road. Gardaí believe this car was most likely used by the killers.
The teenager, who is from the Moorefield estate, was wounded on the right side and upper arm.
The Irish Timesunderstands he managed to flee the scene as the car came to a stop at the side of the road when the driver was shot dead.
He is then believed to have made his way to Tallaght hospital and presented himself for treatment. It was staff at the A&E department who alerted gardaí to the fact a boy with gunshot wounds had presented at the hospital.
The Corballys were well-known drug dealers and had been involved in a feud with a gang headed by a major drugs dealer from Ballyfermot, west Dublin.
They had been warned by gardaí several times in recent months that their lives were under threat.
Kenneth Corbally was driving the car when it was shot at while Paul Corbally was the front-seat passenger.
Both were very well-known to gardaí and were regarded as violent criminals who were involved in serious crime, including armed robberies and serious drug crime.
“They had set themselves up as the main rivals to a significant drug dealer in Ballyfermot and we had become aware of a number of plans to shoot them and they were informed of those threats,” said one Garda source.
The emergency services were summoned to the scene of last night’s shooting but the two men were pronounced dead at the scene. They were shot several times in the head and upper body.
The bodies were still at the scene late last night but were expected to be removed for a postmortem after undergoing a preliminary examination at the scene. They had been taken from the car by paramedics but efforts to revive them were not successful.
They were pronounced dead and the two bodies left covered on the road beside their vehicle pending the arrival of a pathologist.
Garda search teams will today carry out an extensive examination of the murder scene and the stretch of road leading up to the area when the men’s car came to a stop.
Garda sources said the gun attack may have started quite some distance down the road.
“There were a lot of shots fired so even gathering up any bullet cases will take some time,” said one source.