Two men shot dead in Dublin as gangland feud escalates

A 35-year-old man was shot dead in a Dublin pub on Monday night in what appears to be the latest murder in a feud that had already cost five lives since last September.

Michael Barr was shot in the Sunset House pub on Summerhill Parade in Dublin's north inner city at about 9.30pm. It is thought he was not the main intended target of the shooting and that the attackers may have wanted to kill a member of the Hutch family.

A second killing was carried out just before midnight in Clondalkin when a man in his mid-30s was shot several times in the chest. He was attacked in the Kilcronan area and paramedics attended to him but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Garda outside The Sunset House pub in Dublin where a man has been shot dead in a gangland feud. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

It is not known if there was any gangland connection to the second shooting.

The man shot in the Sunset House pub had addresses in the area in the past and also in Ballymun. He had been acquitted of terror-related charges when brought before the courts. His home was searched last week as part of the inquiry into the murder of David Byrne (33), from Crumlin, in the Regency Hotel in February.

The victim was linked to Gary Hutch (34), from the north inner city who was shot dead in Spain last September.

A burned out car believed to have been used by the man’s killers was found in Drumcondra shortly after the attack. Hundreds of locals gathered outside the pub on Monday night as the Garda helicopter hovered overhead. An ambulance was on the scene within minutes and removed the man’s body from the pub.

One distraught man had to restrained by gardaí when he tried to enter the Sunset House. The scene was cordoned off and traffic in the area were redirected.

There is grave concern now that with six murders having been carried out in seven months, the Hutch-Kinahan feud is accelerating.

The rate of murders is by far the most rapid loss of life in any Irish underworld feud. After Hutch’s killing by the gang led from Spain by Irish drug dealer Christy Kinahan, his associates in Dublin waited more than five months before avenging his death.

Gang member

Storming into a boxing tournament weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in February, they shot dead Kinahan gang member Byrne.

Since then, the Kinahan side has retaliated; killing Eddie Hutch three days after Byrne’s murder and shooting dead Hutch family associate Noel Duggan at his home in Ratoath, Co Meath, last month.

Duggan was a close friend of Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, the uncle and brother of Gary and Eddie Hutch respectively.

Two weeks ago Martin O’Rourke (24) was shot dead outside Noctor’s pub on Sheriff Street in the north inner city.

He was killed in a case of mistaken identity by a gunman apparently looking to shoot a Hutch associate.

The acting Taoiseach attended Mr O’Rourke’s funeral in Dublin on Friday.

The murder at the Sunset House bears the hallmarks of another attack against a wide group of people linked to the Hutch side of the feud.