Shooting victim claims to know attackers
A Limerick man said today he knew the identity of the gunmen who shot him.
Anthony Kelly, from O’Malley Park in Southill was admitted to hospital with pellet wounds after the attack near his home at 9.55pm last night.
He said he knew the two gunmen who had fired six shots at him while he tried to take cover behind a wall.
“I know who they are. I know who one of them is definitely and I’ll be able to identify him. I made a statement to the guards about it,” he said.
He added that he had received more death threats from the same people today.
“They shouted up that they’re going to murder me and I’m going to be put down on top of my brother Michael who’s dead as well,” he told RTÉ radio.
His brother, former Alderman Michael Kelly died in hospital last June from gunshot wounds sustained a month earlier.
The Kelly family have insisted he was murdered and last year, they exhumed his body to disprove a newspaper report that the gun used to kill him had been buried in his coffin.
Mr Kelly said he would not be intimidated out of his family home in Southill and added that the intended to leave the matter to the Gardaí.
“There will be no reprisals from me or my family. The guards are handling it. We’re not going to get involved in any of this,” he said.
A Garda spokesman said that officers in Limerick were investigating reports that a man had been shot in the face by two men.
They are also investigating a possible link between the attack and a shooting in the Southill area at 12pm yesterday, when a 30-year-old man was wounded in the hand.
Gardaí were today questioning a man about the shooting.
Mr Kelly told RTÉ that it would be ‘totally untrue’ to describe him as a well known criminal. He said his only convictions had been for public order offences, trading after hours and for criminal damage for “knocking a flake of paint off a door”.
In 2001, he was found not guilty at Limerick Circuit Court of causing serious harm to a passer-by due to inadequate evidence.
“We’re not looking for no trouble with nobody. We want to be left in peace alone. Everyone has the right to life and be left in peace,” said Mr Kelly.
Meanwhile, gardai in Limerick confirmed they had recovered a sawn-off shotgun and rounds of ammunition in the Delmege Park area of Moyross on the northside of the city.
It follows a seizure of a rifle with a telescopic sight and €500,000 worth of cannabis in Limerick yesterday.
