Witness saw flashes of light as father-of-ten was shot dead
A man witnessed flashes of light and a car screeching away as a father-of-ten was gunned down on a Dublin street corner, an inquest heard today.
Gerard Fitzgerald, 48, was seen falling to the ground at the junction of Oldtown Road and Shanliss Road in north Dublin after several shots were fired on November 21, 2001.
Matthew Metcalf told the Dublin City Coroner’s Court he was walking down Shanliss Road to a friend’s house when he saw a silver Rover car pass by him.
“I’d say I was about halfway down Oldtown Road when I heard the screech of brakes,” he said. “After I heard the car braking I heard four loud bangs. I saw two flashes of light then I saw a man falling to the ground.”
Mr Metcalf said he could not see the gunman or the car during the attack which occurred around 9.45pm as there was a parked van obstructing his view.
Gerard Scully, who lived just beside where Mr Fitzgerald was shot, said he heard two gun shots and then a cry of pain.
“Next thing the car came speeding around the corner with the lights off and went off down the road,” he said.
“I stepped back I just got a sense of fear or something.”
Gda Thomas Murphy told the inquest he heard the shots as he sat in a garda car outside nearby Santry Garda Station.
“I heard five bangs which I presumed were fireworks at the time,” the garda said, adding he believed they were fireworks as it was just after Halloween - until they were alerted minutes later by an emergency call.
A barrister for An Garda Siochana queried whether the person or persons involved would have known the Garda Station was near the scene or if they simply did not care.
“They probably knew where the Garda Station was but they probably had their escape route mapped out,” Gda Murphy said.
In the hours before the shooting, the silver Rover car was captured driving around the area five times on CCTV cameras at a house on Oldtown Road.
Gda Sinead Magee said the burnt out silver Rover 214 was recovered after the shooting. It was still smouldering when discovered at around 11pm that night in nearby Ballystruane, around 200 metres off the Naul road.
The inquest heard the rear plate on the back of the burnt out Rover was false.
The video footage captured by a householder living on the road also showed a man, believed to be Mr Fitzgerald, walking along the road before he was gunned down.
Retired Det Sgt Brendan McArdle said Mr Fitzgerald had received a number of severe injuries with gunshot wounds to the back of the head and legs.
Det Sgt McArdle, who found four gunshot shells at the scene, said Mr Fitzgerald may have been wounded to the legs before receiving the shot to the head.
He suggested this would paralyse the body before the fatal shot is taken.
“The coup de gras, was still to follow, I’m suggesting,” he said.
Det Sgt McArdle said if the fatal shot to the head had been completed first then there would have been no need for any further shots.
The inquest has already heard Mr Fitzgerald had been attacked a number of times and there had been a previous attempt on his life.
The fatal shooting in November 2001 was the second time the 48-year-old had received gunshot wounds. He survived being shot outside his home at Rathvilly Park in Finglas several times on November 6, 2000.
The first gun attack took place just over a week before his nephew Francis Fitzgerald, 26, was shot dead on November 16, 2000.
Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell adjourned the inquest until Monday, June 26 to hear evidence from State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy.
