Gardai in south Dublin are investigating the killing of a second teenager, following another incident involving youths from fee-paying schools in the city who were attending a students' disco.
Mr David Langan (19) from Castleknock died from head injuries he received soon after he left the Palace Disco in Camden Street in the early hours of August 25th. He was with boys from two fee-paying schools in Dublin.
The incident happened six days before the killing of Mr Brian Murphy (18), who was beaten to death outside another south Dublin disco in the early hours of August 31st. David Langan was six days from his 20th birthday.
Other than the fact that both youths died from injuries received in incidents after attending student discos, there are no connections between the cases.
The youths under suspicion in the Murphy case are from south Dublin and those under suspicion in the Langan case from north Dublin.
In both cases gardai are building up books of evidence and no suspects have yet been questioned. It may be weeks before all interviews are completed and files sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Gardai were told first that Mr Langan had fallen and hit his head on the pavement 10 yards from the canal bridge at Portobello while he was with four friends. However, it is now suspected that he was struck.
It is understood that Mr Langan and his companions had been drinking heavily. An attempt was made to resuscitate him before an ambulance was called. He was taken to St James's Hospital and then to Beaumont Hospital where he died.
Mr Langan was described as a well-liked, "very quiet" youth from a very respectable family. He had been studying sound engineering and sources close to the investigation said he was a non-violent youth. Yesterday the officer in charge of the investigation, Supt Malachy Mulligan of Terenure station, appealed to anyone who was in the Camden Street to Portobello Bridge area in the early hours of Friday, August 25th and who noticed four or five youths involved in a dispute near the bridge to contact gardai. An incident room has been set up at Terenure station and the telephone number is 4905417.
A post-mortem was carried out on Mr Langan in Beaumont Hospital, where he had been in a coma for six days before he died. At the time of the post-mortem he was thought to have died from an accidental injury. A garda attended the post-mortem but usually in cases where there is a suspicious death the autopsy is carried out by a State pathologist. The body may have to be exhumed.
Mr Langan had been drinking with friends throughout the evening and had been trying to hail a taxi home. The group had walked towards the bridge hoping to get a taxi.
Supt Mulligan said the area was very busy at the time and appealed to any taxi drivers or other people who were in the area to try to remember if they had seen a group of four or five youths trying to hail a taxi.
Initially inquiries were handled by Pearse Street Garda station, which covers the Camden Street area where Mr Langan had attended the disco. Then officers from Kevin Street, which is nearer the disco, were involved.
It is understood that gardai received information in the past few days which led to the suspicion that Mr Langan had been struck. The inquiry into the death is being handled now by Terenure station, as Mr Langan suffered his fatal blow in the Garda division south of the canal.