GARDAÍ are investigating a gun attack outside a house in Limerick City that occurred in the early hours of this Friday (November 8).
A number of shots were discharged at a home on Hyde Road at around 1am.
Gardaí are investigating whether the gun attack was linked to an ongoing feud between parties living in the Ballinacurra Weston and Southill areas of the city.
Up to a dozen violent incidents, including pipe bomb attacks and arson attacks, have occurred in the area in past month with tensions rising between those involved.
The Garda Armed Emergency Response Unit (ERU) has been drafted into Limerick City in recent days and is conducting nightly armed checkpoints in flash point areas.
The ERU was deployed to Limerick to assist local armed units and uniformed members involved in a policing operation set up to target the activities of those involved in the feud.
The feud has been bubbling up over the last year with several shootings and other violence leading to a number of people being injured and others brought before the courts.
A Garda spokeswoman said that Gardaí were “investigating all the circumstances in relation to the discharge of a firearm that occurred on Hyde Road, Limerick City at approximately 1am, Friday 8th November, 2024”.
“No injuries have been reported at this time, and investigations are ongoing.”
Gardaí asked that anyone with information on the shooting contact Roxboro Road Garda Station on 061 214 340, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.
A local policing operation led by Limerick Division Chief Superintendent Derek Smart has been established to thwart the actions of those involved.
Last month, Chief Smart warned of Garda fears that children would be injured in the rising violence.
The senior Garda said that “since the 12th of October, a number of cars have been targeted and set on fire and a number of houses and very badly damaged as a result of the attacks upon them”.
“These attacks are confined between two groupings of peoples, they are both known to each other, and they both live on the south side of Limerick City.
“They are not random attacks, they are very targeted in what they are trying to achieve.”
Chief Smart said that “there has been a number of children present in all of these attacks – they haven’t been that far away from them at all”.
He pledged Gardaí would “make sure that people that are involved in these incidents are held to account for their actions”.
The policing plan for the south side of Limerick is ongoing and, Chief Smart said, “involves all available resources here in Limerick city, that would be supported by both national and regional resources, including the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), who will be in Limerick as part of their duties, as well as our own armed support units”.
