Gardaí examine phone and computer of teenager shot dead in Meath

Gardaí investigating the murder of a 19-year-old in Co Meath hope an examination of the teenager’s phone and computer may point to why he was targeted.

Detectives currently have no leads on who shot dead Conor O’Brien at his home in Enfield on Thursday night.

“The main sticking point is the motive. No one seems to have had any reason to want to hurt this young man,” said a source on Sunday.

Mr O’Brien had no convictions and was not believed to be involved in any criminality. Gardaí said he was not known to them in any way.

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Originally from Gorey in Co Wexford, he had been living in a self-contained apartment at the back of a house owned by a family member on Trim Road for a number of months.

He was due to start a new apprenticeship in Limerick in the coming weeks and was preparing to move there at the weekend.

Neighbours reported hearing a single shot at about 8.30pm on Thursday. Mr O’Brien’s body was found in the driveway outside his home about 12 hours later with a gunshot wound.

No firearm was found at the scene.

Postmortem

The body was examined at the scene by Chief State Pathologist Linda Mulligan before being removed to Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, where a postmortem was conducted on Saturday.

Preliminary information supplied by Ms Mulligan confirmed Mr O’ Brien suffered a fatal gunshot injury to the chest.

The teenager’s laptop and mobile phone are being examined by Garda cyber experts for any messages indicating he was under threat from someone.

“We don’t know if we will find anything but it’s something that would be done as a matter of course. This was a quiet lad who kept to himself. It’s a mystery,” a Garda source said.

CCTV cameras in the Enfield area are also being examined in the hope they caught Mr O’Brien’s killer travelling to or from the scene.

Gardaí have officially begun a murder investigation. A senior investigating officer has been appointed and an incident room established at Trim Garda station, assisted by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Investigations have so far established Mr O’Brien had been in contact with a family member at 8pm on Thursday.

“Conor O’Brien was not known to the gardaí in any format whatsoever that we are aware of at this time,” a Garda spokesman said.

‘No motive’

“He was a quiet man who kept very much to himself and our understanding was he was due to start a new career very, very shortly, in the next week or so. We have no motive for this killing at this time.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Trim Garda station on (046) 9481540, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.

Gardaí are particularly keen to speak to anyone who was on Trim Road at its junction with Main Street between 8pm Thursday and 7am on Friday.