Belfast Telegraph

Saturday 12 July 2014

Gunmen target father on school run

Gardai at the scene in Aiken Village, Stepaside

A teenager has been left traumatised and his father seriously injured after a gun attack.

The shooting happened outside their home on Friday as the 17-year-old was being driven to school through a quiet housing estate in south Dublin.

His 38-year-old father, from Lithuania, was the target of the attempted murder at Grianan Fidh in Aiken Village, Stepaside, at around 8.25am.

Detectives are probing if the planned ambush, carried out by two gunmen in a silver Ford Mondeo, was linked to a feud with Lithuanian gangs.

The gunmen blocked the victim's path with their car and opened fire, hitting the father several times in the upper body and mouth - just missing vital organs and his brain.

It was initially believed the teenager had also been shot, but it was later confirmed he was injured by broken glass.

They were both taken to St Vincent's Hospital where the father remains in a serious but stable condition.

Neighbour Max Newman comforted the teenager and his father, who lay bleeding on the footpath, until the emergency services arrived.

"At first I thought he had been in a car accident, it wasn't until later I heard it was much more serious," he said.

"He (the father) was very weak. He had a severe facial injury that will leave him fairly disfigured. Later I found out that emergency services were working on gun shots to the right chest and his arms."

Latest News

Latest Sport

Latest Showbiz