Survivors of shooting unable to identify their attacker

TWO MEN who survived a gangland shooting in which their friend, John "BJ" Clarke, lost his life have been interviewed by gardaí in hospital but have been unable to identify their attacker because he was wearing a balaclava.

The 21-year-old dead man and his two associates - aged 20 and 18 years and both from Darndale in north Dublin - were ambushed as they drove into an underground car park at the Brookwood Abbey apartments in Artane, north Dublin, at 3am on Thursday.

One of the men ran from the car but was wounded as he fled. The driver of the vehicle was wounded in the hand. He managed to drive Clarke, who was in the passenger seat, to nearby Beaumont Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

When gardaí went to the scene of the shooting they found the man who had tried to run to safety lying wounded on the pavement. He sustained neck and head wounds but his injuries are not life threatening.

Both of the injured men have been interviewed by gardaí. Detectives now believe the killer and at least one accomplice were waiting in the underground car park for the men to return after a night spent socialising.

When their 07 D BMW 7 series car arrived into the car park it was sprayed with 9mm automatic gun-fire. Gardaí believe Clarke, and not the other two men, was the killer's target.

The electric gates into the apartment block had not been working for over a week. Gardaí believe whoever carried out the killing may have tampered with the gates to make it easier to gain access to the car park and attack Clarke.

Gardaí believe the killers probably had Clarke under surveillance for some time and knew he parked in the same space in the car park most days.

The dead man had an address in Beauvale, Artane. However, his girlfriend and baby lived in the Brookwood Abbey apartments where the triple shooting took place.

A postmortem on the dead man's remains has found he died of multiple wounds to the upper body. About 15 shots were fired with over half hitting Clarke.

Gardaí found a silver BMW 5 series burned out at Mount Prospect Avenue, Clontarf. They believe it was used by the killers.

Clarke had been shot in the legs six weeks ago as part of a drugs feud in Darndale. Another man David Fred Lynch (26) was shot dead, also in March, as part of the same feud.

Gardaí are investigating if Clarke's murder was part of the same gangland dispute.

He was very heavily involved in the drugs trade and was a member of one of the biggest gangs operating on the north side of Dublin. Gardaí said Clarke had many enemies through his drug dealing activities and that any one of these may have shot him.

The Criminal Assets Bureau had decided to target him and a major investigation into his assets, mostly cash and cars, was already well under way. An appearance in the High Court was imminent.

He was also a target of the Garda National Drug Unit and Organised Crime Unit.

He had been told several times by gardaí that his life was in danger.

He was a drug user, and was facing a number of charges for possession of cannabis and had been convicted on one such charge this week.