“I heard the shots. They were shouting ‘get her down, get her down’, things like that; ‘get out of here, get out of here”
…an eyewitness to last night’s shooting dead of a 16 year-old girl in Tallaght, describing the chaos following the gunfire.
The victim, a settled traveller named locally as Melanie McCarthy McNamara, was shot in the head as she sat in a car in the Brookview Estate. It’s understood the teenage girl was in the company of a man who’s family is involved in a violent dispute and there are fears that the feud which may be behind last night’s shooting could escalate further.
Gardai have held a briefing for journalists to describe how the public can help with their investigation. They say they have recovered a black, SUV jeep, believed to have been used in the killing. It was found abandoned at Browns Barn, Citywest, and they are appealing for information from anyone who saw it being driven there.
98FM’s Crime Corr Louise Byrne has been at Brookview Way since early this morning, where eyewitnesses have been describing last night’s events. One woman said she couldn’t believe the headlines this morning. “I was driving into the estate and the guards were all over the place. It’s disgraceful, it’s sad. You’d even be afraid to let your kids out now” she said.
Another local man was visibly shocked: “It’s an awful shame, the young girl did nothing wrong, you know? It’s a feud going on.”
Another man was similarly appalled: “I can’t believe it’s after happening, I only live a couple of doors away.”
Former local TD, Charlie O’Connor told 98FM News Gardai are looking to trace the movements of the black jeep: “The vehicle involved apparently drove here from Brookview, through Citywest and was abandoned at Brown’s Barn. So clearly there was an opportunity for people to have seen it. Certainly I’d make a special appeal – particularly on this occasion because of the kind of crime that we’re dealing with, for people to co-operate with gardai. I would hope that the local community would do that.”.
The Justice Minister has branded the fatal shooting of a teenage girl in Dublin as horrific and says these types of incidents will not be tolerated. An incident room has been set up at Tallaght Garda station and Alan Shatter says he expects to get a briefing from the Garda Commissioner on the case later. Minister Shatter has extended his sympathy to the girl’s family and has called for anyone with information to contact Gardai. “Gun law on the streets in Tallaght, or any other part of the county or city of Dublin – or indeed anywhere else in the country - is entirely unacceptable” he said. “Unfortunately we have groups of people in a state of no respect for human life and quite frankly we have too many people accessing guns” he added.
