Hutch shooting: ‘I’d be afraid of me life, no one is going to say anything here’

A crowd of about 50 people gathered at the corner of Poplar Row and Annelsey Place on Monday night across from the modern four-storey apartment block where a man in his 50s was shot dead.

The man was named by local people as Eddie Hutch, a brother of Gerry Hutch, also known as The Monk. He was shot at about 7.45pm inside the block of apartments and duplex housing.

Several residents from the local authority flats opposite had rushed from their homes, many in nightclothes, after hearing shots fired.

A number of those gathered made reference to the fatal shooting at the Regency Hotel in Whitehall last Friday. “This is the start of it now” said one man, indicating that the shooting at Poplar Row was a reprisal for the killing of David Byrne (34) who was shot dead when a gang of men, some disguised as gardaí, stormed the hotel during a boxing weigh-in.

However most of those gathered at the Garda cordon were unwilling to talk to the media, with one or two saying they would be afraid to make any comment on the incident.

One woman said the shooting had occurred inside a ground floor apartment, but when asked for further detail said: “I’d be afraid of me life, no one is going to say anything here.”

Another woman indicated that relatives of the victim were waiting in the street to get back into their homes and asked the media to leave.

Shortly before 8.45pm gardaí, who had earlier blocked vehicular access from the North Strand and from Ballybough Road, widened the pedestrian cordon around the complex.