Gardaí in Cork are investigating whether the shooting of a man on his 40s in the city on Friday night was linked to an earlier gun attack on the same man over a year ago.
The man was outside his house at Chapelgate off Glenheights Road in Ballyvolane on the city's Northside when a gunman armed with a handgun approached him at around 7.40pm on Fridayand fired several shots at him.
The victim, who is Irish, was hit a number of times in the upper body and arms but did not lose consciousness and was able to raise the alarm. THe emergency services were alerted and paramedics attended at the scene.
The victim was taken to Cork University Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. It is understood while his injuries were serious they are not life-threatening.
Garda have cordoned off the scene in the quiet cul-de-sac estate and Garda technical experts will begin a forensic examination of the area on Saturday morning in the hope that it may provide some clues as to the man’s attacker.
Gardai also began door-to-door inquiries in the estate of some 20 privately owned houses on Friday night while they have also begun looking for CCTV that might help them identify the gunman who fled the scene on foot.
Gardaí say that they are keeping an open mind on the motive for the shooting but one line of inquiry which detectives are pursuing is whether it may be linked to the earlier attack on the same man some 14 months ago.
On that occasion, the man was walking his dog at around 10pm at Chapelgate , Glenheights Road in Ballyvolane on September 18th 2018 when he heard a noise behind him and a gunman fired a number of shots.
The man escaped uninjured and managed to flee into a nearby house but despite an extensive Garda investigation at the time, nobody was ever arrested or charged in connection with the shooting incident.
Gardaí are trying to establish whether the same attacker was involved in both shooting incidents and they hope to speak with the victim over the weekend when doctors at CUH deem him well enough to be interviewed.
Friday’s shooting is not far from home of former Real IRA Chief of Staff, Aidan O’Driscoll, who lived on nearby Glenheights Road and was shot dead in Blackpool on his way home from work on the evening of December 7th, 2016.
Gardaí believe Mr O’Driscoll was killed as part of a feud with other dissident republicans in Cork but they do not at this stage believe Friday’s night shooting is linked to his murder which shocked the local community.
One source told The Irish Times it is far too early to speculate as to whether the latest shooting was linked to either criminals or paramilitaries who may have some grievance with the victim.
“It’s very early days yet in terms of establishing who is behind this but we are looking to see if this shooting is connected to the shooting last year where shots were fired at the same individual,” said the source.
“The man was very lucky on that occasion that he wasn’t hit - on this occasion he was hit a number of times but he was, arguably, even more lucky in that he survived the attack - in fact, this time, he’s very, very lucky to be alive.”
Gardaí are appealing to anyone who was in the Chapelgate area of Ballyvolane between 6pm and 8pm on Friday night and saw anything suspicious to contact Mayfield Garda station on 021-4558510.
