Paul Reynolds reports on the chaotic accidental gangland killing of Josh Itseli and the changing face of organised crime in Ireland with the rise of the street gangs.
It now looks increasingly likely that the killing of Josh Itseli was accidental rather than deliberate.
Gardaí and Defence Forces personnel undergo training that involves academic and practical examinations. Josh Itseli has become another victim of a criminal subculture that invariably leads to a jail cell or a grave. A young man in south Dublin became the first person to be killed this year because of his involvement in organised crime.He was shot a number of times with a semi-automatic weapon at a 12.15am.Unfortunately on Monday, this residential area was in many ways a warzone.
The main criminal gangs in Ireland have access to fleets of cars, some bought, some leased and some stolen on demand The animosity was most likely linked to the drugs trade and a dispute over turf between rival street drug dealing gangs. In this country, as in all countries, gang members and dangerous criminals come from any and all nationalities, religions and ethnic backgrounds.
Gardaí believe it is likely he was accidentally killed by one of his own who did not know how to handle the weapon.One of the bullets went through a window in the local community centre that had been occupied until 7pm that evening and hit a table inside. That car and the van, along with the Mercedes and the Golf have all been seized and are now being forensically examined.
The 36-year-old had already survived one assassination attempt in Belfast when on 10 May 2017 he was shot five times in the upper chest and neck as he sat in his car at a Topaz filling station in Dublin. There were others at the scene on both sides who got away that night; those in the van, in the Volkswagon, in the Ford Focus, the driver of the electric motorbike and the fifth person, a teenager, in the Mercedes.
The officer in charge of serious and organised crime said the recklessness, volatility and violent nature of the members of these gangs poses a serious challenge, as was evidenced this week. The preference of older or more experienced gunmen for pistols such as a Glock, which is relatively easy to conceal and use, is in marked contrast to the bravado of the younger criminals displaying larger and often unwieldy automatic and semi-automatic rifles and machine guns.
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