Gardai in Dublin have appealed for information to assist a murder inquiry after a man was shot dead in Finglas last night.
Two masked raiders armed with handguns burst into a busy pub and opened fire as mourners attended a function following a funeral.
Gardai said they singled out their victims in the upstairs of the Jolly Toper bar before shooting them a number of times.
The dead man was named locally as Paul Martin.
Detectives believe the attackers fled the scene in a dark coloured car driven by a third man who had been waiting on Church Street before making off towards the Finglas Road.
Superintendent John Harnett, Finglas Garda station, said a car was later found nearby and is undergoing a technical examination.
The two men were rushed to the Mater hospital where Mr Martin, who was in his late 30s, died a short time later.
The second man, aged 33, is in a stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery at the Mater.
A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out on the dead man at the Dublin City Morgue.
Gardai said one attacker was just over 6ft while the other was just under 6ft.
Both men were slim and wearing dark coloured clothing.
Supt Harnett refused to say whether the shooting was linked to drug crime or if the dead man had previous criminal convictions but it is understood the attack was linked to a local gangland dispute.
Gardai have received information from people in the pub at the time, he added.
“We have received great co-operation so far and we are appealing for anyone with information to contact us,” Supt Harnett said.
Local Fine Gael councilor Dr Bill Tormey said this latest brutal gun crime had shocked the entire community.
“It is absolutely horrendous. In the grand scheme of things, this is a new low,” he said.
“This pub is a very respectable place that is used by many local groups, the elderly and for social occasions. For someone to come in and spray a load of bullets is definitely a new low with the risk of hurting innocent people.”
Sinn Fein TD Aengus O’Snodaigh said the incident reinforced the need for the deployment of extra gardai in crime ridden areas.
“The fact that many shootings are taking place in public places, such as last night’s shootings in a pub in Finglas, shows that the criminals responsible have absolutely no fear of being caught.”
The shooting follows a gun attack in Marbella in Spain last Thursday night in which Peter Mitchell, a former associate of convicted drug dealer John Gilligan, was shot and injured. Two bystanders were also hurt in the attack.
PA