Murder round the corner

For most people, murders are something they see on Tv or in newspapers, yesterday, a 28-year-old man was shot down not more than a hundred yards from my house as he left home for work.

Despite covering the story for ireland.com, seeing the distress at close hand of his family and friends, it still seems like an incident that only happens in the media.

While Ongar is in the Dublin 15 area close to where a fair few shootings take place in Blanchardstown, it is not an area where you'd expect a gangland style shooting to take place.

It's a new development occupied mostly by first-time buyers like my wife and I and young families. There were no gangsters till yesterday.

Gardai said the victim, as far as they were concerned, had no connections to anything criminal, but yet, he was shot by someone who appeared to know exactly what they were doing.

The gunman dressed like one of the many builders in the area so as not to seem conspicuous and after he fired to bullets into the victim he casually walked off. No panicked run, no high-speed car or motorbike, just a casual stroll away from the scene.

Anyway, here's the news story:

Gardai in Lucan are investigating the murder of 28-year-old man who was shot dead outside his home in west Dublin earlier this morning.

The man was shot twice in the upper body by a waiting gunman as he was entering his van outside his apartment block in Hayworth Court, Ongar Park, near Clonee.

It is believed he stumbled from his van to a grass verge where he died.The man, originally from the north inner city, lived on his own in the aprtment block where he had been resident for about a year. He was not known to gardai.

The gunman was wearing an illumonous vest and woolly hat and gardai believe that he may have been trying to disguise himself as one of the many builders working in the still being developed Ongar area.

The scene has been preserved by the garda techincal bureau and the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy is expected to examine the body later this afternoon.

Gardai have appealed to anyone in the area with information to contact them.