The estate in Lucan where Neil Reilly (36) was killed following an altercation after a shooting at a house in Clondalkin is a quiet residential area.
Following the shooting in Ronanstown it is understood one vehicle was driven at speed from a house but was pursued by several men in at least one other vehicle.
The pursuit took the cars to the Glebe estate, where an altercation took place and Mr Reilly was stabbed and slashed before being intentionally run over by one of the cars
Later in the morning, a local man said most people there “keep themselves to themselves. It’s an older estate, it’s not a new estate”.
But he added that it was only a matter of time before a violent incident such as this one occurred in the area.
“It’s happening everywhere else,” he said. “A chap was only shot over there before Christmas. It was only a matter of time. The place is getting worse, everywhere’s getting worse but you never think it will happen on your own doorstep.”
The unrelated incident he was referring to was the shooting of gangland figure Mark Desmond, who was fatally wounded in an attack at Griffeen Valley Park in December.
He said the incident on Wednesday could have been worse if it had happened when kids were going to the local school, close by to where the incident took place.
“It could have been a lot worse if the kids were getting out of school. It could have been a lot worse. This place gets mad when the kids get out of school.”
Another woman said, “my god, here we go again” as she passed the sealed off area where a Garda forensics team was examining the scene.
In a press conference at the scene, Supt Dermot Mann said gardaí received calls about a crash at the Glebe involving a number of vehicles. On Wednesday a damaged silver Mazda remained outside the row of houses where Mr Reilly was assaulted, stabbed and run over by a car.
Clondalkin flashpoint
The incident occurred after several shots were fired at a house at Liscarne Gardens, Clondalkin, at about 4am.
That house was also sealed off on Wednesday afternoon, its front window broken and two shotgun casings visible on the footpath outside. Gardaí were conducting door-to-door inquiries.
A neighbour two doors down said she “heard nothing at all” but that the incident is shocking.
“It was just when I was going to the shops and I saw the gardaí and I went, ‘what the hell?’
“We’ve never seen something like this before. It is shocking. The area is quiet, you never hear of anything, only that time your man got stabbed at Halloween. But we didn’t even know about that until it was all over Facebook.
“Nothing has ever happened in the area. It’s quiet, everyone is settled. Everyone just keeps themselves to themselves.”
