Crime & Law

Gunfire, crashed cars, a pipe bomb and a killing: Chaotic violence unfolds in Drimnagh

Locals capture video footage during attack on Knockarea Road and immediate aftermath as gardaí tried to save young man’s life

Gardaí at the scene of a fatal shooting in Drimnagh, Dublin 12. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

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Conor Lally
Mon May 6 2024 - 20:45

Residents in Drimnagh were alerted to the gangland violence unfolding on their streets by the sound of repeated gunfire, and the Garda helicopter above, just after midnight. And through Monday, as the full scale of what had unfolded began to become clearer, their shock deepened.

One man was dead — his body remained at the junction of Knocknarea Road and Sperrin Road throughout the day. Three crashed cars were visible on the street and several crime scenes were sealed off. Those scenes included the local community centre, which was hit by stray bullets from the murder scene hundreds of metres away, and the spot where a suspected pipe bomb was discovered.

Videos were recorded by local people while the attack was under way and also in its immediate aftermath. In one piece of footage, eight shots can be heard, though gardaí believe that the recording only began midway through the attack.

While this area of Dublin lived through the notorious Crumlin-Drimnagh gangland feud for almost a decade, the events of early on Monday were even more shocking for many than any of the killings during that past dispute.

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The man shot dead has been named as 20-year-old Josh Itseli, with an address in Ballyfermot, Dublin. Gardaí believe he, and possibly accomplices, were spotted by a rival faction and rammed off the road in a car before the victim was shot repeatedly. The collision and shooting unfolded directly under on-street CCTV cameras.

Gardaí also believe several parties present were armed and that one of them brought the pipe bomb to the scene for deployment against a criminal rival. Three men were spotted by members of the Armed Support Unit walking away from the scene and were arrested. The trio were wearing body armour. A military-grade assault rifle, discarded in the area, was also found by gardaí.

Josh Itseli, from Ballyfermot, died after being shot in Drimnagh in the early hours of Monday. Photograph: Facebook

One local man said people were alerted to the attack by the sound of a large number of gunshots. “You could hear it, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I saw one of them running with a gun. And then of course there was loads of gardaí in the area, all over the place and blocking off the roads,” he said.

“It’s desperate to hear of a young fella being killed like this. And you’d never hear things like that the last few years. It all seemed to have completely quietened down.”

Other people met on the street to discuss, and try to make sense of, the scene before them amid a good deal of confusion given the three crashed cars were about 200m apart.

Sinn Féin Cllr Daithí Doolan said local people he had spoken to were very shocked by the events. He said the shooting would be condemned by all in the area, while the sympathies of everyone would go to the relatives of the victim.

“I was talking to residents this morning and they had their bank holiday weekend shattered by gunfire — the noise of a lot of gunfire here last night — and we wake up this morning to the news that this man had his life taken away as the result of gun crime,” he said.

Mr Doolan appealed to anyone who saw anything to contact gardaí because the public could not be “held to ransom by gun crime and the criminals behind it”.

Supt Paul Maher, of Crumlin-Terenure community engagement team, said when gardaí arrived at the scene they discovered two vehicles — a Mercedes and Volkswagen Golf — which appeared to have been in collision on Knocknarea Road. A third car — a Ford Focus — was found very badly damaged, abandoned on nearby Sperrin Road.

“A male in his early 20s was discovered with gunshot wounds,” he said. “Responding gardaí offered first aid and despite attempts by gardaí and Dublin Fire Brigade paramedics, the male was pronounced deceased at the scene and our thoughts are with the deceased’s family.”

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