A man has died and another has been wounded in what gardaí believe was a botched gangland shooting in west Dublin.
The attack occurred at a restaurant in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, which was packed with people, including families, enjoying a Christmas Eve meal.
While the investigation is at an early stage, detectives believe two men who were in the restaurant at the time, and who are close associates, were the target of a gunman who entered the premises.
While one of those men was shot and wounded, however, he survived the immediate aftermath of the attack and was undergoing treatment in hospital late on Sunday night. He was in a critical condition.
A number of people who were in the Browne’s Steakhouse as the gunman entered, and was then tackled with fatal consequences, grabbed their young children and tried to run to safety.
The man who died is believed to have been stabbed, and gardaí believe he was the gunman who was carrying out the attack. While he was rushed to hospital, efforts to save him were not successful.
The two men detectives believe were the gunman’s target are well known to gardaí and have come to the attention of members of the force very recently for alleged criminal activity. Those two men are in their 20s and 40s, and are from Dublin. The deceased man was also in his 20s.
A firearm was recovered at the scene and has been sent for analysis by Garda ballistics experts.
Gardaí confirmed the attack took place at a premises on Main St, Blanchardstown, adding they were alerted to the incident at about 8pm.
“Two males were later taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital to receive medical treatment,” said a statement from Garda Headquarters.
“One of these males, aged in his 20s, was pronounced deceased in hospital a short time afterwards. A second man, aged in his 40s, is receiving treatment for gunshot wounds and is in a serious condition.
“The scene has been preserved for a technical examination and the services of the Office of the State Pathologist have been requested.”
While the results of the postmortem on the dead man were not expected to be known for between 24 and 48 hours, early indications are he suffered fatal stab wounds.
Gardaí were gathering CCTV from inside the premises in a bid to piece together the precise circumstances of the shooting and the apparently fatal stabbing of the suspected gunman.
It is understood a number of people were also recording footage inside the premises at the time, with those videos also expected to inform the Garda investigation.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was shocked to hear about the shooting “in a well known family restaurant I’ve visited many times”.
He thanked gardaí and offered solidarity to staff and customers at the restaurant.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our In The News podcast is now published daily – Find the latest episode here
Discover more from Today Headline
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.