The intended target of Sunday night's shooting, in which a five year-old boy was shot in the leg, escaped unscathed despite several attempts on his life in recent months.
Five year-old Jordan Crawford was standing outside his grandmother's home in O'Malley Park in Southill with a group of people when a gunman opened fire shortly before 7.30pm.
The child was hit in the upper leg and was bleeding heavily when the emergency services arrived at the scene. He was said by the Mid-Western Regional Hospital to be in a comfortable condition yesterday.
It is understood that a bullet from a semi-automatic handgun passed through the boy's thigh when he was caught in the gunfire.
Gardaí do not believe the boy was deliberately singled out, but instead was caught in the line of fire when the gunman attempted to shoot another individual.
The intended target is related to Jordan Crawford. He has been targeted several times in recent months and last Thursday night his home in O'Malley Park was shot at, but nobody was injured.
He is also believed to have been in the John Carew Park area of Southill last Friday night when four youths in a stolen car pointed a shotgun at a lone man.
Last July he again escaped serious injury when shots were fired at him while he was sitting in a car with a woman and child.
A 15-year-old boy was instead hit in this incident and received two injuries to his leg when he was mistakenly caught in the line of fire.
Gardaí have confirmed that Sunday's night's shooting and the recent incidents in O'Malley Park are feud-related.
They are hoping that CCTV footage taken from cameras in the O'Malley Park area and other parts of Southill will help them in their attempt to identify the gunman involved in Sunday night's shooting.
They also appealed to anybody who was in the O'Malley Park area at the time of the shooting to contact Roxboro Garda station, telephone (061) 214349.
Labour Party TD Jan O'Sullivan expressed her horror at Sunday night's shooting.
She said this proved the need for a dedicated 24-hour police presence in vulnerable housing estates to break the cycle of violence.
Limerick city is not out of control and is not being terrorised by armed criminals, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said yesterday in the wake of Sunday's shooting. Despite the "depraved" nature of the attack, he said he believed gardaí were winning the battle against gun crime in the city.
Speaking at the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary, Mr McDowell insisted a very small number of people in a small number of estates were behind most of the serious gun crime in Limerick.
"The depravity of people who are using firearms to settle family feuds is disgraceful.
" The fact that a young child could be the innocent victim of this kind of depraved behaviour is very disturbing."