Houses firebombed as feud escalates
SENIOR Gardaí have expressed fears this week that innocent people could suffer serious injury or be killed in an escalating feud between two families involving arson attacks on three homes in Galway over the past week as well as a shooting incident.
Garda Detective Superintendent Shane Cummins, who is heading up the investigation into the incidents, said that such behaviour was utterly reckless and could endanger the lives of completely innocent people.
“These are all the most serious and reckless of incidents which could lead to people being killed or seriously injured. We are appealing for anyone who can be of assistance to us in this investigation, to come forward in confidence, and make contact with the Gardaí [see numbers below],” said Det Supt Cummins.
This comes as Galway’s top Garda, Chief Supt Tom Curley, told a Joint Policing Committee meeting this week that a huge amount of Garda overtime had to be specifically allocated to the ongoing feud that spans the city and county.
The feud – the second of its kind to erupt in Galway over recent years – took on a frightening twist on Tuesday night of last week (June 15) when a gunman called to the door of a house in the Bohermore in the city.
He looked for the occupant of the house at around 10.30pm, but when there was no response, he discharged one shot from a handgun into the door of the property before making his exit on foot after jumping a wall at the adjacent Forster Court estate. It is understood that there were people in the house at the time.
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