THE Co Armagh town of Lurgan is gripped by terror following the murders of two RUC officers by the IRA yesterday. There are fears of loyalist retaliation mixed with foreboding as the Drumcree situation in the nearby town of Portadown remains unresolved.
According to the RUC, at least two people ran up to the officers at around 11.45 a.m. and shot them in the back of the head at point-blank range. The assailants, who were thought to be wearing wigs, escaped in a green Rover car which was found burnt out in the nearby nationalist Kilwilkee estate. The IRA's north Armagh brigade admitted responsibility.
The policemen were named yesterday as Const Roland John Graham (34), from Richhill, Co Armagh, and Reserve Const David Andrew Johnston (30), from Lisburn, Co Antrim. They were on foot patrol in a small lane called church Walk in the town centre, just yards from the town's RUC station. Up to five shots were heard by people nearby.
Mr Graham was married with three daughters aged 10, seven and two. He joined the RUC in 1983 and held the RUC service medal. Mr Johnston was married with two sons aged seven and three. He joined the RUC in 1986; and also held the RUC service medal. Both men were attached to Lurgan RUC station. They worked as community policemen and were regularly seen on foot patrol in the town centre.
Two doctors whose surgery is a few steps from where the murders took place rushed to the men's aid after they heard the shots.
Dr John McMullen and Dr Fred McSorley were unable to help them as they were already dead. They appeared to have shotgun wounds to the head. Dr McMullen said: `It was very traumatic both as a doctor and as a human being. There was nothing we could do. Nothing prepares you for what we saw today."
The area was sealed off by the RUC as forensic experts examined the scene. A local shopkeeper used his lorry to block the view of passers-by. Four or five helicopters hovered throughout thee day and evening over Lurgan.
One Lurgan man said: "I was sitting in my neighbour's house having a cup of tea and I hear bang, bang, bang, bang. I thought there was about six shots, I'm not awfully sure. At first I thought it was a car backfiring. Then I saw all my neighbours coming out. I said: `What has happened? Has there been an accident?' I came out and I saw a policeman's body lying in the street."
A woman in a nearby travel agency said she had heard the gun shots and knew immediately something was wrong. She ran around the corner and saw the two bodies slumped on the tarmac.
"I was shocked and sick at the thought of it, the fact that it could happen so close," she said.
Another shopkeeper said he heard the shots but at the time thought nothing of it as there was regular target practice at the near-by RUC station. However, he soon realised what had happened when a teenage boy ran into his shop in tears. "He must have witnessed the murders," he said.
A Catholic man involved in the Boy Scouts was shocked when he heard they were community policemen. "I work with a lot of community policemen. God, I hope I don't know them. It's terrible."
Asst chief constable Freddie Hall said: "We appeal to anyone who may have been in the vicinity at the time or who saw this incident taking place, or who saw the green Rover car anywhere in the Lurgan area in recent days to get in touch with the detectives in Lurgan. We need further help from witnesses. We need further help from the public."