A full-scale murder inquiry was begun late last night after a man was gunned down in an apparent gangland style shooting. The killing took place just after 9.40pm in the west Dublin suburb of Ronanstown. Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent and Mark Roddenreport.
It was the second gangland murder of the year and followed the shooting dead of a 23-year-old Clondalkin man in front of his girlfriend at the couple's home 10 days ago.
The victim of the latest shooting was targeted at a house on St Mark's Crescent. The Irish Timesunderstands the victim was wounded three times outside the property.
Garda sources last night indicated the victim had been shot at least once in the head and twice in the upper body. The emergency services were on the scene within minutes.
However, while the victim was attended to at the scene and then taken by ambulance to Tallaght hospital, he was pronounced dead on admission.
Last night's killing is likely to lead to renewed criticism from the Opposition of the Government's record on gun crime following a record level of gun homicides last year, dubbed "the year of the gangster" by Fine Gael.
Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has already come under pressure this year following four hostage robberies, also known as "tiger robberies", since the start of 2007.
The latest robbery took place at the Bank of Ireland, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, on Thursday morning, when a gang got away with €500,000.
The four main suspects were arrested in a hotel in Ballymun at 1am yesterday. Late last night two more men, both in their 30s, were arrested in Finglas, Dublin.
The victim of last Tuesday week's fatal shooting, the first such attack of the year, was 23-year-old Damien Dowdall. He was shot by two men who called to his Clondalkin home.