“They hit me, daddy. What was that?”
Those are the words of a child who bore witness to a shooting at the Regency Hotel in Dublin, which occured at a weigh-in for boxing match called the “Clash of Clans.” Incredibly the whole scene was caught on film. Thankfully, the child heard on camera wasn’t actually shot or injured.
From what we had read on the descriptions of the Regency Hotel shooting itself, the scene was surreal enough. But this new footage shows exactly how frightening it must have been.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O5rDDvVJwU&w=656]
During the shooting, one man was killed and three others were wounded. Irish Police, known as the Gardai, believe that the crime is in relation to gang activity. The Guardian reports the dead man is known to police as a key member of a drug smuggling crime ring that runs out of Spain. Police believe the killers, who escaped on foot through a football club, represented a rival gang.
It’s believed the gunmen were dressed as policemen.
One witness told independent.ie the gunmen had ‘GARDA ERU’ in yellow letters on the back of bullet proof vests.
Their faces were completely covered but they spoke with “strong Dublin accents”.
The gunmen escaped the scene in a van which was found burnt out in the Charlemont Estate shortly after the incident.
The men are understood to have then escaped on foot through St Vincent’s GAA club towards Killester.
Gardai arrived at the hotel minutes later – a witness described the scene as “absolute pandemonium” [source].
