Gardaí believe a man shot dead in Finglas, north Dublin, at the weekend was a relatively minor player in the drugs trade locally who had fallen foul of an organised gang.
Brandon Ledwidge (23) died after a gunman opened fire outside his family home on Saturday evening, wounding him in the body and head multiple times.
He was on bail at the time of his murder, having allegedly been caught with heroin and cocaine three times in the last two years. He was also charged with obstructing gardaí during the searches in which the drugs were found.
Mr Ledwidge was at the property with family members on Barry Drive just before 7pm on Saturday when he went to the door to meet a caller, who shot him. The emergency services were alerted and the injured man was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken by ambulance to Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown.
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However, efforts to save him were not successful and he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at the hospital. His murder was the first gangland killing of the year in the Republic and comes at a time of relative calm in the underworld, though the drugs trade has been booming in a full employment economy.
Finglas had witnessed sustained Garda activity, including searches and the seizure of drugs, as gardaí sought to quell a feud that erupted last year in the wider area
Gardaí suspect Mr Ledwidge was working with a tight-knit drugs gang recently in Finglas, Dublin 11, but had fallen foul of them and was operating more independently in the drugs trade of late. The dispute with members of that group was being examined as a possible motive for his murder.
Some of the gang members who had fallen out with Mr Ledwidge have been before the courts for many years on serious drug and gun crime charges. However, after stints of imprisonment they were released and resumed their places in the underworld in Finglas.
Gardaí sealed off the scene of the fatal shooting on Saturday evening, securing it overnight into Sunday morning, when it was examined by members of the Garda Technical Bureau. A postmortem on the victim’s remains was also conducted on Sunday by State Pathologist, Dr Sally Ann Collis.
Gardaí in Finglas Garda station were carrying out the murder inquiry and have appealed for anyone who was in the area around Barry Drive on Saturday evening to come forward and aid the inquiry. A Garda family liaison officer has also been appointed to assist the victim’s family.
Despite being granted bail after being charged with drug crime, and then coming to the Garda’s attention for the same crimes – drug dealing and obstructing gardaí – Mr Ledwidge was again granted bail.
He was due to appear before Blanchardstown District Court on Tuesday over allegations he was in possession of heroin and cocaine for sale or supply in Finglas two years ago. He was also facing other drugs charges relating to two other searches when he was allegedly caught with cocaine at different addresses in Finglas, in June of this year and in December, 2021.
On both occasions Mr Ledwidge allegedly tried to block gardaí during the searches and was facing two separate charges of obstruction.
However, while the three sets of drugs and obstruction charges he faced related to drug dealing, rather than possession for personal use, none of the drug seizures was large enough for him to be charged with commercial-scale dealing.
Some of the gang members who had fallen out with Mr Ledwidge have been before the courts for many years on serious drug and gun crime charges
Cllr Anthony Connaghan, who represents the Ballymun-Finglas electoral area for Sinn Féin, said the local community was “in shock” at the killing, as Finglas had been relatively quiet of late. He added the area had witnessed sustained Garda activity, including searches and the seizure of drugs, as gardaí sought to quell a feud that erupted last year in the wider Finglas area.
However, the Garda “could not be there 24-7″, he said, and some organised gangs in the area had “groomed” boys and young men, involving them in the drugs trade while they were very young and aspiring to the superficial trappings of the narcotics industry.
“Obviously, everyone is extremely sad a young lad has died in this way,” Cllr Connaghan said. Many people in the local community were also fearful that the murder of Mr Ledwidge may lead to a fresh round of gun violence, he added.
He hoped gardaí locally “could get on top of it and they were keeping the area safe in recent times”, though they needed more resources. Significant investment to divert young people away from crime was also required in the area, he said.
