IT WAS the morning after the night before but the residents of Brookview Way in Tallaght were still trying to come to terms with what had happened.
A 16-year-old girl had been shot and fatally wounded on the quiet road, which sits among a number of estates in this sprawling part of west Dublin, and even though few knew Melanie McCarthy McNamara, the news of her death was met with shock and sympathy for her family.
She had moved with her family from Newcastle West in Limerick to Tallaght about six years ago.
“You see it on the television and people say they’re surprised it happened in my area. I know what they mean now. It’s shocking, isn’t it?” said a female resident as she made her way out under the Garda cordon.
“It happens around Tallaght all the time but you wouldn’t think it is going to happen outside your front door,” she said.
“I’m surprised. She was a young girl. It’s just terrible.”
A number of children, some in school uniform, looked on intently as gardaí in white boiler suits combed the scene for evidence that might help the investigation.
Older residents of the estate kept watch from their front rooms, porches, driveways and gardens as Garda cars came and went.
Some gardaí knocked on doors to ask if anyone had seen anything suspicious, in particular a black Hyundai SUV, which is understood to have spent some time waiting in a cul-de-sac in Brookview Way before pulling up alongside the Nissan Almera, in which Ms McCarthy McNamara was sitting, before the shots were fired.
Michael Gaffney, who lives on the estate, said he had heard two gun shots at about 10.20pm.
Less than two hours later, gardaí called to his house looking for information about what had happened.
“It’s devastating when it happens in front of you. You don’t know what’s going to happen though. It’s sad,” he said.
“My reaction is that it shouldn’t have happened. My reaction is that it’s terrible, terrible.
“It’s a quiet area, but it can get rough around here at night. But that’s nothing out of the ordinary.”
The vehicle in which the teenager was shot had left the area more than 12 hours earlier and was being preserved at Tallaght hospital. The car was used to bring Ms McCarthy McNamara to the hospital before she was pronounced dead at 1.15am.
Three cones holding the Garda cordon remained in its place, with a sign saying “Garda Accident”, as officers searched for clues.
“Of course I’m surprised. Definitely,” said one resident as she looked on from her front yard.
“I just heard a bang and I knew it wasn’t fireworks at this time of year . . . “It’s weird to think it happened here, especially to somebody so young.”
