THE DUBLIN criminal shot dead in a gangland-style killing at the weekend was suspected of involvement in at least two murders and is believed to have been paid sometimes by other criminals to shoot people.
Daniel Gaynor (25), a father of two, was also believed to have carried out a shooting on behalf of a former IRA member which left innocent postman Robert Delany in a permanent vegetative state.
Gaynor, originally from Berryfield Drive, Finglas, is the 18th person to die in gun attacks so far this year, almost of all of which have been gang-related.
He was walking with his partner and two young children at the junction of Barnamore Crescent and Saint Helena’s Road in Finglas at 6.50pm on Saturday when he was attacked. A gunman walked up to Gaynor and fired a number of shots from a handgun, at least one of which fatally wounded him in the neck. .
The killer then ran from the scene, and escaped by climbing over railings into the Carrigallen and Gortmore housing estates. A Garda search of the area close to the murder scene yielded a handgun.
Gaynor was taken by ambulance to Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The suspect was described by gardaí as 5ft 9in to 6ft. He was of thin build and wore dark clothing with a light grey/blue tracksuit top, a dark baseball cap and white gloves.
Supt Dave Dowling, who is leading the murder investigation, said the suspect ran towards the Tolka Valley area after the shooting, and he appealed for anyone who may have seen him running away to contact gardaí.
Detectives are trying to establish a motive for the murder but sources said the victim was so immersed in crime it may take time to determine the motive. He was involved in a feud with members of the main Finglas drugs gang once led by Eamon Dunne, who was shot dead in April.
Gaynor was well known to gardaí and served jail terms for drugs offences, firearms offences and intimidation of witnesses.
When he was a teenager he opened fire on the home of another teenager who owed him €100. In November 2007, he received an 18-month sentence after he was caught with cocaine and diazepam during a 2005 appearance at Dublin District Court.
In 2006, Gaynor was tried and convicted of witness intimidation. The court heard that the intimidation of the 62-year-old female victim was so severe that a witness protection programme was “immediately” arranged for her. Gaynor told her that her son’s days were numbered and made a gesture of a shotgun to his head.
Gaynor’s father, Robert McGrath, was shot dead by armed gardaí in 1992 after he pointed a sawn-off shotgun at them during an attempted armed robbery of a post office in Tara, Co Meath.
Gaynor was the chief suspect for the shooting dead last month of Colm Owens (34), of Dunsoughly, Finglas. He was murdered when a masked gunman entered the Corn Store, an animal feed warehouse, on the Grove industrial estate at Dubber Lane, Finglas, and singled out Owens. He is believed to have been paid to carry out that killing of behalf of people Owens had been in dispute with.
Gaynor was also questioned about the stabbing to death of Maurice Martin (21) in Finglas in June 2009. Originally from Finglas but living in Co Meath, Mr Martin was stabbed on the street after a party. His remains were found on a grass verge at the junction of Cardiffsbridge Road and Tolka Valley Road.
Gaynor was also arrested and questioned about the shooting of father of two Robert Delany (29) at his home in Tallaght in October 2008. Mr Delany was sprayed in the face with lead pellets from a shotgun blast and remains in a permanent vegetative state.
Weeks earlier Mr Delany had intervened in a row outside a pub but did not know at the time that one of the men in that fight was linked to a one-time member of the IRA. Gardaí believe the former IRA member hired Gaynor and another Finglas criminal to shoot Mr Delany in revenge for hitting his associate. Mr Delany worked as a postman and had never been involved in crime.