Gardaí in Dublin say they have "no idea" what motivated an apparently random shooting spree in a city pub on Monday night in which one man was seriously injured.
Mr Francis Kelly (67), from Phoenix Street, Ballyfermot, was shot when a man entered Clery's pub on Sarsfield Road in Inchicore at about 9.20 p.m. The gunman is said to have entered the pub at the back before running through, firing from a shotgun as he went.
The blast narrowly missed a number of customers. Mr Kelly, who is understood to have been drinking alone, was hit by pellets.
He was rushed to St James's Hospital where his condition is described as "comfortable".
The gunman made his exit through the front of the pub. It remains unclear whether he escaped on foot or in a vehicle.
Clery's - an old, quiet pub in a residential area of Inchicore - remained closed yesterday evening as gardaí mapping and ballistics experts examined the scene. One of the four front windows had up to 20 pellet-marks.
Residents in an adjacent terrace of red-brick houses and in nearby Murray Cottages said they knew nothing about the shooting. Nor had they heard a commotion on Monday night.
One elderly woman, who did not want to be named, said yesterday she had first heard of the incident "on the radio this morning".
"It's all very quiet around here and I never heard anything like this," she said.
Another woman, who also did not wish to be named, described Clery's as "a man's pub".
"I wouldn't go in there only to buy cigarettes the odd time," she said.
"I didn't hear anything last night. It wasn't 'til a friend rang me this morning about it that I heard about it."
Though there have been a number of shootings in the Ballyfermot, Inchicore and Crumlin areas over the past year related to gangland and drug activities, there was no suggestion yesterday that Monday night's shooting was gang-related.
A resident who wished not to be named said several people had recently been barred from the pub "for stupid, silly things".
Gardaí say the shooting may have been carried out by someone bearing a grudge.
The gunman is described as being between 6 feet 2 inches and 6 feet 4 inches, and wearing jeans and a light-coloured hooded sweater.
Anyone with information is asked to contact gardaí at Kilmainham on (01) 6669700.
