'You are afraid to say anything to them'

LOCAL REACTION:THE CLOSE-knit community in the East Wall area of Dublin city was yesterday left shaken by the fatal shooting of their neighbour Aidan O'Kane on Sunday night and the subsequent arrest of teenagers as young as 13.

"He was a really a genuinely nice man. He was the kind of man that did jobs for old folks. Only last week he heard a woman in the shop talking about her grandson's bike being broken and he went around to fix the bike," said local resident Mary.

Like many other residents in the area Mary was not willing to give her full name for fear of the repercussions.

"He was very nice," said one former resident of the area. He said a group of young people had been "giving grief" to Mr O'Kane over the previous couple of months.Many local people described increasing anti-social behaviour by groups of young people in the area but said they were shocked that a teenager may have had a gun.

"You see them here every night, a gang of teenagers. You are afraid to say anything to them. But nothing like this has happened here before. It would make you think you wouldn't want to say anything to any of them," said George Turner, who has lived in East Wall all his life.

Anne said she had given up working at night because of anti-social behaviour.

"That family should have been getting ready for Christmas not for a funeral. It is very hard not to go after them when you see what they do," she said.

Mr O'Kane chased the young people after they threw eggs against his house but residents said teenagers had been doing this to other houses in the area recently for fun.

Mary said eggs had been thrown at her house by a "gang" last week. "I was going to go after them and I'm glad I didn't. It could have been me, it is sick. The place is being terrorised for months and police can't do anything about it," she added.

Many people spoke warmly of the community in East Wall.

Margaret, a pensioner who lives alone, was very frightened. "The place is changing, it used not to be like that. If I put my nose out and see a young chap is going by I am thinking, is he armed? Armed is so foreign to my ears. That they are going around with guns, it is frightening," she said.

Breda had never known anything like this to happen there. "Where would a teenager get a gun? It's like buying a packet of sweets walking into a shop. It's devastating." Said local taxi driver, John: "It is a very close community. We are being fenced in here with all these apartments. You don't know half the people around East Wall now." "I am third generation down here. It's a lovely area and I cant believe this is going on," another woman said.

"It is dreadful if a man went to chase teenagers and got shot. It would make you cautious once it gets dark," Breda Roberts said.

Local Labour TD Joe Costello said locals were now living "in fear of their lives".

Anger was also directed at parents. "Parents let them run around the streets at all hours of the night, what can you expect when parents don't care?" one woman asked.

Said Catherine Woods: "The parents have to be made responsible. A kid shouldn't be running around at night. What is the mentality of these kids?"