Two suspects in feud killing well-known gang members
Saturday April 28 2007
Both men are from the city's northside and have a long and chequered past with the gardai, with over 50 convictions racked up between them.
Investigating gardai are still attempting to gather enough evidence to prosecute the young men who shot Noel Campion (35) dead in a well-planned and executed ambush on Thursday morning.
The man suspected to be the assassin who hid in the phone box before firing at least six gunshots from a semi-automatic firearm at Campion has up to 20 previous convictions.
He escaped from custody in the past and has numerous convictions for drugs, motoring and theft offences.
His most recent convictions are for assault, public order offences and obstructing a member of the gardai.
The man who gardai believe drove the Volkswagen Passat getaway car is aged 21 and is a close relative of one of the murderers of drugs lord Kieran Keane.
Keane was murdered in January 2003 when he was shot dead on the city's outskirts.
The getaway driver has over 30 convictions, the vast majority for road traffic offences and stealing cars.
Brutal
Neither man has been seen since Thursday's brutal murder.
Forensic results following a failed attempt by the pair to burn out the stolen Passat could prove crucial to gardai in bringing a successful case.
The Irish Independent has learned that last weekend the widow of Kieran Keane, Sophie, narrowly avoided being snared by the two suspected murderers along with two other members of the Dundon-McCarthy gang, who attempted to block her path with a car and jeep in north Tipperary.
Sophie Keane was in the company of a young family member at the time and her home in Limerick has been targeted in the past.
Meanwhile, initial post-mortem results reveal that Noel Campion suffered three exit and entry gunshot wounds. The married father of three was shot on both the left and right-hand side and in the back.
A tight ring of security will be present at his removal, which takes place on Sunday night, followed by funeral Mass and burial on Monday in Limerick.
And gardai are on alert this weekend in the city after a 16-year-old boy was shot in Moyross yesterday morning by a man armed with a shotgun.
The youth suffered pellet wounds.
Officers are investigating whether the shooting incident was a reprisal for Noel Campion's murder.
- Barry Duggan
