Gangland shootings continue

Another innocent man was shot dead in yet another gangland shooting, this time in Limerick. Noel Crawford was hit in the abdomen as he stood at the front door of his mother's house in O'Malley Park, shortly before 3:00am on Monday. He was pronounced dead in hospital a short time later, on what was his 40th birthday. Seconds before the gunman appeared he was chatting to his brother Paul (32) who appears to have been the intended target. Their nephew, Jordan Crawford (5), was shot in the leg outside the same house in November, when again Paul Crawford was the target. According to the Irish Times, shots were also fired at the house on November 3 and, in July a 15-year-old boy was injured when shots were fired at Paul Crawford as he sat in a car with a woman and child.
Paul Crawford was arrested later on the day of his brother's death, for allegedly making threats to kill a woman. When he appeared in court he was remanded in custody after a senior garda officer described him as a leading member of the McCarthy-Dundon criminal gang who, if released, would attempt to exact revenge for his brother's murder. He was back in court again on Thursday, seeking bail to attend his brother's funeral. Also in court was Elizabeth Sparling, who had made a formal statement to gardaí about the threat. She now claimed that she was satisfied that she had nothing to fear from the accused, a man she had known all her life. A garda witness countered this by stating that Ms Sparling had only retracted her earlier statement as a result of further bullying and intimidation by members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang. Bail was again refused.
Shots were also fired in two separate incidents in the city before and after Monday morning's' murder. At about 11:30pm on Sunday a man was injured in the shoulder in Cliona Park, but this shooting is not believed to be connected to the feud. Shots were later fired at an occupied house in O'Malley Park, in all likelihood this was in response to the murder.
At lunchtime on Wednesday another well-known Limerick criminal, Brian Collopy (34), received two gunshot wounds in the leg in a drive-by shooting near the city centre. Collopy was in the news a couple of years ago when the Criminal Assets Bureau confiscated and sold his bungalow at Fedamore in Co. Limerick.
No one was injured when two shots were fired through the window of a house in Swords, Co. Dublin late on Tuesday. Two nights later a man was injured in Clondalkin when a shotgun was fired through the window of his home