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Updated 9:15pm
GARDAÍ ARE APPEALING for witnesses to a shooting, where a man was killed and two others injured at a boxing weigh-in at a Dublin hotel, to come forward.
Gardaí have confirmed that shortly before 2.30pm, they received reports of a shooting at the hotel.
There were at least four attackers. Two were wearing SWAT-style police uniforms, including metal helmets, and were armed with assault weapons.
One man was dressed as a woman and was wearing an auburn wig. The other is described as stocky and wearing a beige cap. Both men were armed with handguns.
A video has emerged of the moment the shooting began during the weigh-in. (This video might be distressing to some viewers.)
Three men, all in their 20s or 30s, were injured at the scene.
One of these men was subsequently pronounced dead. Sources have confirmed that he is David Byrne, who was a believed associate of the Kinahan crime gang.
The office of the State Pathologist has been informed and a post mortem examination of the dead man is expected to take place tomorrow.
A short time after the attack a van was found burnt out at the Charlemont Estate in nearby Marino.
The Chief Superintendent Barry O’Brien said tonight that anyone who was at the hotel should come forward:
“We know that there were a considerable number of people present in the Regency Hotel and we are appealing to them to provide any information they may have in relation to the shooting.”
The two other men injured were removed to the Mater and Beaumont hospitals with gunshot wounds. One of those men is critically injured.
“I was staring down the barrel of a gun”
A BBC Foyle journalist who was at the weigh-in, Kevin McAnena, told RTÉ Six One News that he was just after exiting the event and was still in the hotel when there was panic and “pushing and shoving”.
He thought at first that it was a fist fight, but then heard gunshots.
“Two men were there holding AK47 rifles, dressed as gardaí,” he said. He was in the reception area when he saw them shoot a man who was standing about six feet in front of him. McAnena then jumped behind the reception desk.
The gunman “leaned over the desk and pointed the gun” at McAnena. McAnena, who had been shouting “don’t shoot, don’t shoot”, said the man said something to him – which he can’t remember – and then left.
“I was staring down the barrel of a gun,” he told RTÉ. “At this point I think I am going to die. I’ve never been so terrified.”
He said he then went into the reception office with the receptionist, and they stayed there for about an hour. They rang the gardaí who said it was safe for them to come out.
The scene is sealed off and a technical examination of the area is expected to take place.
Gardaí are appealing for anyone who was in the area of the Regency Hotel or may have information, to contact them at Ballymun Garda Station on 01 666 4400.
The Regency Hotel on Drumcondra Road on the city’s northside had been playing host to the weigh-ins for a boxing event in Tallaght tomorrow which will see Gary Corcoran face Danny Butler at the National Basketball Arena.
The event is being promoted by Matthew Macklin’s company MGM and legendary promoter Frank Warren. A representative for Warren’s company told TheJournal.ie that they were unaware of any issue.
A representative for the hotel said they “could not comment”.
Gardaí are also appealing to anyone who was in the area of the Regency Hotel between 2.00 and 2.45 pm, or in the Charlemont Estate at that time, to contact Ballymun Garda Station on 01 666 4400 or the Garda Confidential line 1800 666 111.
- Additional reporting Aoife Barry and Cormac Fitzgerald
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Course the media over there bear no responsibility for this mess. Purer than driven snow they are. Impartiality and accuracy………
@Skipper Mac: and do the Irish media take responsibility for our current political landscape?
It’s almost a big a mess as it is over there in terms of Health, Housing, Economy, the list goes on…
@Skipper Mac: If course they don’t. You think the Irish media has a hand in this defeat? Nonsense, this is 100% the Tories fault. May’s stupid red lines leading to a deal that pleases no one. The fault is all in Westminster.
@Skipper Mac: Well the media along with the Brexiteers have to share the blame for a no vote in the referendum in 2016.
@Mushy Peas: Hardly the point. The Irish media have not recommended that our nation jump off a cliff in the expectation of a miracle. Many in the U.K. media have done just that and lied through their teeth.
i have great respect for theresa may,there
@Larry Roe: I respect her tenacity but shes’s made a series of disastrous mistakes since taking office that has landed her where she is now. for example, calling a GE, getting into bed with the DUP, doing solo runs with the EU, pandering to the ERG and so on. Time for her to go now.
I was watching last night just after the result and she was getting up to speak and I was thinking wouldn’t it be great if she said
right…f*ck ye all….I’m going home
@Jane: that would have been fantastic. I’m not a Brit gov fan but I think Theresa may is a great woman. She took on an impossible task from Blair. No one could solve the mess
@Patricia Mcnamara: from Blair?? David Cameron, was the Tory PM she took over from when he lost the referendum he foolishly called to put the Euro sceptics in his party to bed..
@Nigel o’Neill: sorry, you are right of course.
@Jane: literaly laughed out loud! That would have been my course of action…
@Patricia Mcnamara: He was right and also kind enough to not mention that there was also another Prime Minister between Blair and Cameron – Gordon Brown.
@Terry McClatchey: true.l am not informed enough.
….The British, a sound group of lads.
Is there anything to be said for another mass?
@Connor Saváge: hi dude
If I were May I think I’d go on a foul-mouthed rant in Parliament then storm out and go on a year long sabbatical in India.
@David A. Murray: What did India ever do to you?
I get the feeling we are all being hood winked by the brits and we are watching a deliberate pantomine.
In england right now on billboards signs on bus stops etc theres all sorts of advice about what to do now for leaving eu. In the background the new post eu rules r being implemented rapidly.
Its like whats happening in parliament is all a fugazi.
Its a remarkable situation.
She must be getting paid a fortune! It’s a no win and all they’re doing is playing games with her and those who elected them. Yer man Mogg had made 17,000,000 pounds out of brexit investments already. She would actually be better off this morning by simply saying, see you all later!
The journalists and media outlets are as useless as that lot in Westminster. They are just as guilty for this whole mess due to sensational journalism. They have absolutely no idea what’s going on either or how to report what’s going on so they just resort to mud-slinging.
The UK have no intelligence with those that have a voice on their behalf.
@2thFairy: Except that some in the U.K. media have been resolute in opposing Brexit by reference to facts and the much derided “expert”. However, your point holds largely true for many in the media and the BBC now derided as the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation. Channel 4 by contrast have engaged in factual reporting. We live in a strange age to be sure.
@2thFairy:
All journalists or do you mean some journalists?
As for: ‘The UK have no intelligence with those that have a voice on their behalf’.
I don’t know what it means, but it’s priceless all the same.
Big Media and especially the Print Media in the UK are so partisan, that they are a huge part of the overall problem that has led everything to this ridiculous point
So….. What’s happening????
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: go back to sleep seanie. Nothin has happened in 2 years no exit
EU is constipated.they can’t shit the UK out.
BANNER HEADLINE WRITERS WORKING OVERTIME.
SEVERAL HEADLINE WRITERS ON VERGE OF SUICIDE
HEADLINE WRITERS UNION THREATENS STRIKE
I’M SICK OF THIS – LET’S GO FOR A PINT
Cut the umbilical EU cord the baby who, will be born will be very handicapped. Let there be an end to brexit.
Great Article, to see an Helicopter view of how the Horror show is being reported :-( I don’t envy our neighbors and also ourselves in how it will impact us
The whole world is watching Westminster and it’s beyond an incompetent embarrassment
These careerist politicians just don’t care about the public just their pensions,expenses,reelection prospect and some obscure delusion of empire….
Just leave the EU
France me old mate ..block up Calais and see how they like a 60 mile tailback
have your say