Gardai are concerned that a series of Dublin gangland shootings may be an indication of escalating gang warfare. The gangs are vying for control of the drugs supply in an area between the south inner city and west Dublin.
In one Garda sub-district alone there have been four murders, two near-fatal shootings and several other shootings, stabbings and beatings since last summer.
Detectives from Sundrive station were yesterday questioning a number of people about the latest attack, in which a 23-year-old man was shot in the face as he answered a knock at the front door of his home on Crumlin Road at around 3.30 am yesterday.
The man, who has a record of minor convictions for car theft and road-traffic offences, was struck by a bullet when a gunman fired through a pane of frosted glass in the front door. The bullet passed through his cheek and tongue.
The man is said to be recovering in hospital. It is understood he had felt under threat and had plans to leave Dublin in the near future.
Detectives believe the shooting is linked to a series of attacks which have claimed several lives in recent years.
The succession of murders and shootings are being traced back to a bloody gang fight in October 1999 between a west Dublin drugs gang and members of the criminal-terrorist group, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
In the melee in a vacant warehouse at Ballymount Industrial Estate a 22-year-old INLA member, Patrick Campbell, was fatally stabbed. The Ballymount episode provoked a series of retaliatory attacks which disrupted the established pattern of drug dealing and criminal control in an area from Drimnagh to the western suburbs of the city.
In April 2000, the INLA shot dead Patrick Neville (31) at St Michael's Estate, Inchicore, in revenge for the Campbell killing. As gangs associated with the INLA and a number of criminal families in west and south Dublin began making new allegiances and started becoming involved in new feuds with other gangs in what is described as a turf war.
One of the emerging major drugs dealers in the south-west area of the city is a man in his late 20s who has already earned a reputation as a repeat murderer with a sadistic streak.
The body of one of his victims, 22-year-old Niall Hanlon, was dug up in February in the grounds of St Kevin's College, Sundrive Road. Hanlon, who is believed to have owed the drug dealer money, was repeatedly stabbed and mutilated. There were several severe wounds to his groin.
The same killer is also believed to have been responsible for the murder of David McGreevey (23), shot dead at his home in Belgard Heights, Tallaght on February 1st this year.
In September last year another man, Declan Gavin (20), was also stabbed to death as he stood at a bus stop outside Crumlin Shopping Centre. He, too, is believed to have been a victim of the gang which killed Niall Hanlon and David McGreevey.
Gardaí now believe that Derek Lodge, the 26-year-old minor criminal from Drimnagh who was shot dead outside his home on Kilworth Road last week, may also be a victim of the local gang warfare.
Other killings that have occurred in the same frame as the south Dublin gang fighting is that of Seamus Hogan (47), one of Dublin's best known criminals. He was shot dead outside the Transport Club, Clogher Road, Crumlin on July 16th last year.
The shooting at Crumlin Road in the early hours of yesterday is also being examined in the light of the Derek Lodge and other local killings and attacks.