A DUBLIN woman was recovering, yesterday after surgery to remove a bullet from her leg, following a shooting in Ballyfermot on Wednesday night. A spokeswoman for St James's Hospital said the woman was "stable".
Gardai believe Ms Violet Blackburn was accidentally shot after the car in which she was a passenger was rammed by another at Ballyfermot Drive at about 10 p.m. Her four year old child, who also was in the car, was unharmed, apart from minor facial injuries.
Gardai believe the intended target was the driver, Mr John Alford, who was released from prison last June after serving a sentence for robbery.
The incident began when Mr Alford drove the green Volkswagen Polo car on to Ballyfermot Parade. It was rammed repeatedly by a stolen BMW car and trapped against a wall. A masked man jumped out of the BMW and fired five or six shots from a handgun at the Polo, hitting Ms Blackburn in the wrist and knee. The bullet which hit her wrist did not lodge there, but the other had to be extracted from her knee during surgery.
"It would appear the driver of the Volkswagen Polo car was the intended victim but he managed to duck and he wasn't hit," Supt Len Ahern of Ballyfermot Garda station said.
The three occupants of the Polo, who live nearby, were helped by neighbours as the BMW, believed to have been carrying three people drove off. It was later found burned out at Killeen Road, Ballyfermot.