Two hurt in violent attacks in Co Antrim

Two people have been injured and six children narrowly avoided being hurt in three separate violent incidents in Co Antrim overnight…

Two people have been injured and six children narrowly avoided being hurt in three separate violent incidents in Co Antrim overnight.

A family escaped injury in a gun attack in Crumlin at around 1 a.m. when the caravan they were staying in was fired upon.

Two adults and six children were thought to be in the home at the time. A vehicle beside the caravan was damaged in the attack in which one round from a shotgun was discharged.

Earlier, a 26 year-old was shot in the leg in Ballymena.

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The man was forced into a car at around where he was shot in a paramilitary-style shooting, shortly after 8 p.m.

It is understood the shooting is a loyalist punishment attack in a town notorious for drug feuds. A sectarian motive is thought unlikely.

The man is recovering in hospital.

A short time later, a 23-year-old man was beaten with hammers and a baseball bat at his home in Carrickfergus.

Three masked men broke into the man’s flat in Castlemara at around 9 p.m. last night. The man is being treated in hopsital for his injuries.