Gardaí have yet to establish a motive for the killing of a 30-year-old man in Finglas, Dublin, on Monday night. Lee Kinsella was shot dead at his home on Ratoath Avenue at about 10pm. A nine-year old boy was in the house at the time.
Just before 10pm, a brick was thrown through a window in the front door of the house. When he approached a front window, Mr Kinsella was shot four times by a handgun. He was taken to Connolly hospital but pronounced dead after 10.30pm. A postmortem completed last night confirmed that Mr Kinsella was shot four times and died from shots to the lower part of the body.
The suspects are thought to have fled in a silver Subaru Impreza car fitted with a large spoiler, and gardaí have asked anyone who saw the car to contact them. A group of men were also noticed acting suspiciously in the area some time before the attack.
The victim's house was sealed off yesterday while Garda forensic experts inspected the area. Several bullet holes had pierced the front room window, and shards of glass lay scattered on the wooden floor inside the front door. A light remained on in the hallway. In a corner of the small garden, a man's bicycle was propped neatly alongside some children's toys.
Neighbours said Mr Kinsella was the second man to be killed at the same house. Some years ago, a man was stabbed in the front garden of the house after he intervened in a row. "It's a respectable, quiet area," said one. "I've been here four years [ and] to see something like this on your own doorstep . . . I've four kids myself, you know what I mean?"
Another neighbour said Mr Kinsella, whose family are originally from nearby Abbotstown, and his girlfriend had moved into the house about two years ago. "I knew the chap from going to school with him, primary school. He'd say hello to me in the shop and I'd say hello, but that was the end of it.
"He was friendly enough to me. I knew his young fellow to see. It's not the first time it's happened . . . but something like this, only 10 yards from your door, it's crazy."
Mr Kinsella was known to gardaí. Supt Gabriel Mc Intyre who is leading the investigation siad: "We wouldn't see him as being in the big league at all. He was a young fella trying to get his life in order."Witnesses are asked to contact Finglas Garda station at 01-6667500.
Labour Party justice spokesman, Brendan Howlin condemned the murder and appealed for those with information to contact gardaí.