Community of grief: Creggan locals stand in silence in memory of murdered deliveryman
PSNI DETECTIVES suspect that the murder of a 22-year-old man in Derry, which has caused outrage in his local Bogside and Creggan areas of the city, was carried out either by the Real IRA or the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
Emmett Shiels, who was delivering pizzas early yesterday morning, was shot at point-blank range in the Bligh's Lane area after he intervened on behalf of a group of youths who were being threatened by armed and masked men.
Mr Shiels, whose girlfriend is due to give birth shortly, died less than a quarter of a mile from his home at Tyrconnell Street, Bogside.
First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness led the widespread condemnation of what police said was a "cold-blooded murder".
PSNI Det Insp Frank Taylor said Mr Shiels's killing was linked to an earlier incident at Abbots' Walk in the Bogside, during which a shot was fired. This in turn led to a group of youths being chased into Bligh's Way, where Mr Shiels attempted to calm the situation.
"But one of the gunmen fired at Mr Shiels, hitting him below the chest. A second shot was fired and the bullet was recovered from the ground," said Det Insp Taylor.
"I want to say that Mr Shiels was a totally innocent man who had no part in any violent activities and he was simply targeted by these ruthless people hidden behind masks, dressed in camouflaged uniforms, who gunned him down in cold blood. Mr Shiels happened to be in the area simply by chance, and in attempting to intervene in a bid to calm a dangerous situation he was murdered by gangsters," he said.
PSNI and local sources said that a dissident republican group, either the INLA or the Real IRA, was responsible. In recent weeks both republican paramilitary organisations issued death threats against local youths they allege were responsible for anti-social activities, and just two weeks ago a youth was shot in the leg in a drive-by shooting in the Creggan estate.
One of the first on the scene of yesterday's murder, which occurred just before 1am, was Creggan community activist Seán McMonagle. "I spoke to the young people who told me he had been shot from point-blank range once in the upper body. I heard reports that this could have been a case of mistaken identity, but it wasn't. Those responsible didn't care who they shot," he said.
"Emmett tried to engage with them and their response was to shoot him. I have just spoken to Emmett's family, a family which is steeped in republicanism, and they want anyone with information about the murder to pass that information on to the PSNI. Those responsible for this murder are unwanted mavericks who have given this young man's family a life sentence of pain and hurt."
The Rev Stephen McLaughlin, parish priest of St Mary's Church in Creggan, said the police informed him of the shooting at 3am yesterday.
PSNI inspector Chris Yates rejected criticism of the fact that it took the police almost two hours to arrive at the murder scene. "After a terrorist shooting such as this we have to be very careful . . . You don't go blindly rushing into an area after someone has been shot dead and in the knowledge that our intelligence indicated the potential for an ambush."
In Derry last night, about 500 people, among them Mr McGuinness and the city's SDLP mayor Cllr Gerard Diver, attended a vigil at the scene of the murder. The vigil was organised by the Creggan Neighbourhood Partnership, whose spokesperson Conal McFeely said that the actions of the killers were an affront to the ideology they professed to uphold.
"They have no right to act on behalf of the people of Derry, and certainly not of Creggan."