Man injured in shooting as estate violence worsens
Monday November 20 2006
In a day of unparalleled violence in the southside estate, gardai were attacked by a gang of youths, there was an arson attack on a house, a man was arrested for making death threats and at least two separate shooting incidents took place leaving one man wounded.
Gardai have also recovered a quantity of drugs believed to be cocaine from the area.
Yesterday morning, a 24-year-old man was shot in the neck and leg in the O'Malley Park area of the southside estate.
He is in a "stable condition" in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The injured man has been named locally as David Leamy. It is believed the gunmen fired at him 10 times at about 1am with an automatic firearm.
Despite the presence of armed patrols and the Emergency Response Unit, violence continued unabated throughout the night. At 3.24am, a house was petrol bombed.
Shortly afterwards windows were smashed at a nearby two-storey house which has been shot at twice in recent weeks.
At about 4.45am, a gunman who is aligned to a Limerick drugs gang fired at least six shots from an upstairs window of the house which had been attacked.
When gardai arrivedat the scene, they were challenged by a gang of 20 youths who flung bottles and stones at the officers. One woman was injured by a bottle as the gardai escaped unharmed.
On Sunday afternoon, gardai arrested a 20-year-old man in the Southill area for allegedly making death threats to a member of an opposing faction.
Cocaine
In follow-up searches in O'Malley Park, officers recovered what is believed to be cocaine.
Gardai at Roxboro Road are investigating all incidents and can be contacted with information on (061) 214 340.
Detectives are investigating whether any of the incidents are related to the city's ongoing bloody feud or are linked to localised disputes in the Southill area.
Last weekend, Thomas Moran was shot dead in Southill and the previous Sunday, Jordan Crawford (5) was shot in the leg.
- Barry Duggan
