Gardai in Dublin have opened a murder investigation after a man died from gunshot wounds sustained on Saturday night while he was attempting to deliver a Chinese meal.
Mr Gerard Moran (35), of Rory O'Connor House, Hardwicke Street, who was married with four children, was shot twice in the leg when he brought the meal to an address in St Joseph's Avenue in Drumcondra.
The delivery had been ordered from the New Palace takeaway in Dorset Street, where Mr Moran worked, at about 10.30 p.m. on Saturday. Gardai said yesterday the order was bogus and was not made from the address supplied.
When Mr Moran arrived in the area, he was approached by a man carrying a sawn-off shotgun who fired two shots before getting away in a 96-D registration car. Some witnesses described the vehicle as a mid-range saloon car, but it is not clear whether the gunman was the driver.
Mr Moran was taken by ambulance to the Mater Hospital where he died yesterday morning. He had been unable to give gardai any information about the incident.
Det Supt Cormac Gordon, who is leading the Garda investigation into the murder, said no motive had been established for the attack. He appealed for anybody who saw anything suspicious in the area around the time of the murder to contact the Garda at Mountjoy station, where an incident room has been set up. Telephone: (01) 830-1720.
Gardai are also searching for the car used by the gunman to flee the scene and have asked that people be on the lookout for any unfamiliar cars parked and not moved since the weekend.
Checkpoints were set up between 10 and 11.30 last night in the area where the murder took place.
A post-mortem on Mr Moran's body was carried out yesterday by the Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy. The dead man was originally from Ballyfermot.
