Young families were left to ponder why their sleepy estate in Lusk had become the scene of yet another shooting after Dublin's latest gun attack on Tuesday.
The targeting of a 37-year-old man, carried out in broad daylight, is believed to have been witnessed by various residents of the Dun Emer estate just before 10am.
Locals expressed shock that such an attack could take place so close to home in the large Celtic Tiger-era housing development, located less than five minutes’ drive from the centre of Lusk.
One man who lives across the road from the scene of the crime described how you could “normally hear a pin drop” in Dun Emer as he and his young child watched gardaí carry out technical examinations shortly after the incident.
Many locals said they heard nothing of the attack despite being in their homes at the time. The victim is not particularly well known in the area.
‘I didn’t hear anything’
“I was coming out of here [their house] at 10am to drop the kids to the GAA club and saw all the commotion, fire trucks and ambulances arriving. I didn’t hear anything until the sirens,” said another onlooker.
“It’s a very, very quiet estate. They’d give out if you were playing your music too loud. It’s shocking,” he added.
One of many new estates which have sprung up around Lusk since the turn of the millennium, Dun Emer is home to a variety of social groups including young families.
“The frightening thing is it happened in broad daylight. You see all the kids out here on their bikes,” said one young father, who lives just down the road from where the incident occurred.
“If it had’ve happened a bit later God knows what could have happened.”