New IRA blamed after man shot in legs in Derry
Northern Ireland police inquiry focuses on dissident republican terror groups after man in 20s hurt in ‘punishment shooting’
The New IRA has been blamed for the shooting of a man in Derry, leaving him critically ill in hospital.
The victim, who is in his 20s, was shot in the legs in Magowan Park in the republican Creggan area on Monday night.
Republican sources in the city said the New IRA, the largest of the republican dissident terror groups, was responsible for the “punishment shooting”.
Supt Mark McEwan of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) also blamed republican paramilitaries for the attack. Describing the shooting as “barbaric”, he said the PSNI investigation was focusing on “violent dissident republicans”.
A local parish priest also condemned the shooting. Fr Joseph Gormley described those behind the attack as “narrow minded” and said they did not represent his community.
“We’ve seen so many of these attacks over the years and what do they solve? Nothing. There is no justification at all,” he said.
It was the second shooting in less than a week involving dissident republican groups turning their guns on their own community. Last weekend, Michael McGibbon, a father of four, was shot in the legs and later died from his injuries. He was wounded outside his home in the republican Ardoyne district of north Belfast. His wife, who is a nurse, tended to her wounded husband after the shooting.
A prominent north Belfast republican was arrested on Monday in connection with the McGibbon murder but has since been released. PSNI sources in Belfast said he was targeted after simply making “an unfavourable comment” to a girl who had connections to dissident republican paramilitaries in Ardoyne.
McGibbon had no criminal record and was not known to the police. He had earlier last week refused to turn up to be shot “by appointment” after being approached by local dissident republicans.
Last Thursday, McGibbon reported there had been a threat to his life from a dissident republican terror group.
