Gardaí seek information on prisoner murder
Gardaí tonight appealed to the public for help to identify the killer of a man who was released from prison.
Mark Byrne, 30, was shot three times at 10am after being let out from Mountjoy prison in Dublin on day release.
He had walked out of the prison and was buying credit for his mobile phone in local newsagent Selections on the junction of Vincent Street and Berkeley Road on the north side of Dublin.
Superintendent John Leahy, of Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station, who is leading the murder investigation, said a lone gunman came up behind him and shot him.
“He got across the road and he fell fatally wounded on the footpath,” he said.
He appealed for witnesses to come forward to help identify the gunman, who was described as being about 5’9” tall, wearing a hooded top and a baseball cap, and fair-haired.
The gunman escaped on foot after the shooting by turning right on to Sarsfield Street.
“I’m appealing to the public for any help they can give us in tracing this killer and bringing him to justice,” said Mr Leahy.
According to a prison source, Byrne had been granted day release for compassionate reasons and was due to return to prison in the evening.
He was serving a four-year sentence for a combination of offences, including larceny and burglary, and was due to be released in August.
Mr Leahy refused to comment on reports that the motive for the shooting stemmed from a row Byrne recently had with another prisoner. He said detectives were following a number of lines of inquiry.
“There have been a number of (gangland) killings in the area. We’re treating them all as individual and separate. We have no reason to believe that they are any way connected,” he said.
Last month the dismembered body of a foreign man was found in the Royal Canal while another man, Terry Dunleavy, was shot dead as he visited his girlfriend’s flat in the nearby Croke Villas.
Byrne’s body was removed from the scene for a post mortem exam to be carried out by the state pathologist, Dr Mary Cassidy.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern tonight condemned the shooting of Byrne, the fourth fatal attack in his Dublin Central constituency since Easter.
He added: “It’s happening right around me.
“It’s right that we have a sense of horrified shock about these things.
“Last week it was Sligo in the middle of the street. Today it was Berkeley Road in the middle of the street.
“There are fairly vicious people in our society and this is a major task for gardaí to get on top of this.”
Speaking in central Dublin, Mr Ahern said every killing was one too many.
“All of these cases are horrendous. I don’t know what this one is about but many are drug-related, criminal-related and it is frightening that with any argument between these individuals, it seems to be the ultimate step taken.
“We have to keep working towards a society where these things don’t happen.”
