Man killed, two women injured in pub shooting
The shooting sparked panic among those in the pub. They dived for cover as innocent customers were caught up in a vicious gangland feud.
Dressed in balaclavas and armed with pistols, the attackers picked out one man and shot him at close range.
He was critically injured and rushed to the Regional Hospital. He died an hour later.
The gunmen kept shooting indiscriminately as they ran from the pub to a waiting car.
They seriously injured a mother and daughter who had gone to the pub for a quiet drink after attending a funeral. Both women sustained leg and chest injuries.
Gardai said the dead man - named locally as Eddie Ryan was was "well known" to them.
He previously served time in prison for manslaughter.
The pub - The Moose at Cathedral Place - was cordoned off for the arrival of garda forensic experts. Two bullet holes were clearly visible in one of the windows.
Some bystanders said a number of patrons in the pub had earlier attended a funeral service and had gone to the pub for a drink.
One of the injured women was in her 60s, and her daughter was in her mid-20s.
A spokesperson for Limerick Regional hospital early today described the womens' condition as "stable".
Gardai later found a burnt-out car close to the scene which they believe was used by the attackers.
A major investigation under Supt Tony Kennelly, Henry St, was under way.
Gardai were focusing the main thrust of their investigation on criminal elements in the city, particularly on the theory that the shooting was the result of a gangland feud.
One line of inquiry was that the shooting might have resulted from a gangland feud - but gardai were firmly of the view that the two women injured in the attack were innocent victims.
