Two questioned over Belfast shooting

A MAN and a woman were being questioned by PSNI detectives last night following what was described as a “barbaric” suspected …

A MAN and a woman were being questioned by PSNI detectives last night following what was described as a “barbaric” suspected so-called punishment shooting in Twinbrook on the outskirts of west Belfast.

A 25-year-old man was shot five times in what in local parlance is often called a “crucifixion” shooting. He was shot in the left hand, in both calves, in his right thigh and in his right shoulder. He was in a “stable” condition in hospital last night.

The man was attacked by a gang of three masked people, one armed with a handgun, after he answered a knock to the door of his flat in Summerhill Drive in Twinbrook, shortly before 11pm on Tuesday.

A man was arrested in nearby Cherry Road shortly after the attack and a woman was arrested yesterday morning.

Local Sinn Féin Assembly member Jennifer McCann condemned the “sheer recklessness” of the shooting adding that “so-called punishment shootings are a thing of the past and the community does not want them”.

Local SDLP representatives and the Alliance MLA for the area Trevor Nunn, said the attack was “barbaric”.

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Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty is the former Northern editor of The Irish Times