PSNI investigating if loyalists involved in shooting of woman (61)

Police say they have not ruled out loyalist paramilitary involvement after a 61-year-old woman was critically injured in a shooting at her home in Coleraine.

The PSNI is trying to establish a motive for the attack and said it is treating the incident as attempted murder.

The woman was injured when a number of shots were fired into both the front and rear of the house on Bushmills Road in the Co Derry town late on Monday night.

Detective Chief Inspector Dunny McCubbin said the shooting happened shortly before midnight as the woman was watching television in her home – “a place where she should have been safe”.

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The woman was struck in the head by one of the bullets and was now “fighting for her life”, said the officer.

“They fired through numerous windows indiscriminately not knowing where the lethal bullets would end up. This clearly highlights the blatant disregard these criminal gangs have for their own community,” he added.

Appealing for anyone with information to contact the PSNI, he said he believed three or more men were responsible for the “ callous” attack and also that there may be two different types of weapons used.

Local MP Gregory Campbell of the DUP condemned the shooting.

“There will be fear and shock among all age groups, but especially amongst those in the older community and there will be anger of course that something like this can happen,” he told the BBC.

Sinn Féin MLA Caoimhe Archibald added: “No one wants to see reckless and very dangerous incidents like this in Coleraine.

“Those responsible have nothing to offer society and need to be taken off the streets and anyone with information on what happened should bring it forward to the PSNI.”