It's been one year since David Byrne, an associate of the Kinahans, was gunned down at the Regency Hotel. The murder of the 33 year old escalated the current gangland feud which has resulted in the deaths of at least ten men. The shooting occurred on a Friday afternoon during a weigh in for a boxing match called ‘Clash of the Clans.’
Journalist Kevin McAnena was at the Regency Hotel for an interview that day but ended up with a gun in his face.
Speaking to 98FM News Kevin recalls people running through the hotel in panic and he didn’t know what had happened as he hadn’t heard the initial gunfire. However that quickly changed when two gunmen disguised in garda uniforms entered the building.
‘‘The two men came running in from the front door dressed like swat team officers carrying big guns,’’ Kevin recalled. ‘’It got pretty scary. I froze and then a man ran across the middle of the lobby and a gunman turned and shot him.’’
The man Kevin saw being shot was 33 year old David Byrne from Crumlin. Kevin immediately jumped behind reception to hide from the gunmen but one of them followed him and pointed the gun in his face. Kevin begged for his life and simply said ‘’Don’t shoot.’’
‘’I guess the gunman thought I was one of the targets,’’ Kevin said. ‘’He pointed the gun at me and shouted something. I think they gathered then by my face and voice that I wasn’t who they were looking for. If he wanted to shoot me, there was nothing I could do. It was complete panic and helplessness. I just remember my heart racing. ‘’
Kevin lay on the ground for a couple of minutes trying to catch his breath and then peered out to see if the gunmen were gone. He said this was terrifying: ‘’I didn’t know if a bullet would come at me.’’
Kevin said the Regency had gone from complete mayhem to complete silence.
‘As the shots were being fired, it was utter panic and people were running around each other and pushing each other to get out of danger. And then it was all quiet when the gunmen moved to another part of the hotel.
"There was an eerie silence. I popped my head over the reception desk to see what was happening and I saw a man crouching down and I caught his eye. I asked him what was going on but he was too afraid to speak to me. He was hiding behind a plant. Nobody wanted to speak or move because we didn’t know what would happen next.’’
Kevin then ran around to the back of the hotel into the office part. He hid there for 45 minutes until he knew it was safe. Kevin has moved to Canada since the shooting which he says has helped.
‘’I was obviously very rattled that day. For the next week, everyone I met wanted to talk about it and I got a bit tired of that. But I couldn’t say I was traumatised by the shooting or anything,’’ Kevin said.
I had already planned to move to Canada and I left about ten days after that so I was able to draw a line under it. It’s not something I really ever look back on or think too much about. I’m fortunate that way as it could have affected someone much worse. I was quite lucky because I was able to just put it behind me.’’
