2 October 2008
Strabane Weekly News
Anna Maguire and Aine McCarron
Original article:
www.strabaneweekly.co.uk/articles/news/2454/pup-may-have-saved-owners-life-in-gang-gun-attack
[Note: Original article no longer online. Cached copy here:
http://www.zoominfo.com/CachedPage/?archive_id=0&page_id=-1676298948&page_url=//www.strabaneweekly.co.uk/articles/news/2454/pup-may-have-saved-owners-life-in-gang-gun-attack/&page_last_updated=2008-10-09T04:38:37&firstName=Joe&lastName=Peoples]
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| Forensic officers examine the scene of the shooting at Transallagh, St Johnston. |
A three-month-old St Bernard pup shot three times at close range is believed to have saved its owner's life in a gun attack in St Johnston on Thursday night last, a local vet has said.
Despite undergoing fours hours of surgery at Letterkenny Animal Hospital on Thursday night last the dog - nicknamed 'Bullet' by staff at the County Donegal hospital - died on Saturday afternoon.
A 26-year-old man, named locally as Declan Gallagher and believed to be from the Creggan in Derry, and his girlfriend were driving up to his house in the Transallagh area of St Johnston at 9.20pm on Thursday night last, when at least four masked men approached the car.
A Garda spokesperson said: "A number of masked men, possibly up to four, approached the car and fired at least one shot through the window of the car, injuring the man in the neck.
“The female passenger of the car was bundled into a large blue van by the masked men and later dumped out about a kilometre or two from the scene of the original incident".
The area was sealed off on Friday morning pending a technical examination by Garda crime scene examiners.
The investigation is ongoing.
However, a motive for the shooting has yet to be established by Gardai.
While the man's girlfriend, believed to hail from Lithuania, made a phone call from a local petrol station raising the alarm after she was dumped at the roadside by her abductors, her partner drove with the pup to a house about one mile from Letterkenny General Hospital, where an ambulance and police were called.
Local vet, Gerad Roarty, said he received an anonymous phone call shortly after 10pm on Thursday night asking him to come out to attend to the dog.
Speaking to the Strabane Weekly News on Friday last he said:
"The man escaped and made it as far as this house which is a mile from the animal hospital and we got an anonymous call asking us to come out and attend to the dog.
That was at 10.20pm.
They called and just said there was a dog bleeding to death and the Guards were there.
It was a male St Bernard pup, we think about three months old... very friendly, but it was very distressed when we got there.
Bullet wound
“It had a bullet wound through the abdomen. It perforated quite a lot of intestines. We used surgical clamps and emergency first aid to stop the bleeding.
We were there for about 20 minutes and then an ambulance from Letterkenny's Animal Hospital arrived to bring the dog to the animal hospital.
The dog went into surgery straight away. We removed one foot of the bowel from the dog and at that stage it got two litres of blood.
Five people operated on it. It took four hours. It was a very, very delicate operation".
However speaking again on Monday Mr Roarty added: "He had a little heart attack on Saturday afternoon at about 1pm or 1.30pm. It subsequently had a large heart attack. It was eating and drinking prior to that. We think it was just the distress that caused it, getting shot by three high velocity rounds. I think it was just too traumatised.
The owners have been told and they're devastated.
“From what we can gather the man held the dog out and it was hit by three high velocity rounds. It seems the dog saved his life.
It was hit by three bullets, from what the Guards have told us, two [of which were] in the abdomen. It looked to me as if the dog had been sitting on the man's lap.
Devastated
“Everyone who operated on him is devastated".
Meanwhile, the incident has prompted calls for more police patrols in the area, which borders both counties Tyrone and Derry.
A man living in the St Johnston area was shot nine months ago in his home by a group of masked men who claimed to represent the dissident group the Republican Defence Army.
Fine Gael councillor for Letterkenny, Jimmy Harte, said the shooting - along with an armed robbery at a bookmaker's in Killea, County Donegal - over the weekend proved a need for extra gardai or even border patrols installed by the Department of Defence.
Two men armed with a gun and a cleaver stole an amount of cash in euro and sterling from Wizzy Brown's bookmakers in Killea, before escaping towards the border on Saturday.
“With a robbery in Killea on Saturday, there is a need for extra security, even to the point of using the army stationed in Donegal.
He said the incident in Transallagh was "worrying for the locals that this would be happening in their community" , particularly because there was a school half a mile from area where the shooting happened.
“It is a country area between Raphoe and St Johnston.
There is no history of trouble in the area.
“I wish a speedy recovery to the person involved and hope that the authorities can apprehend those involved and that local people in the area will be able to live in peace and harmony," he said.
Meanwhile, one of the victim's neighbours in Transallagh said the incident would leave people "afraid to go out at night".
And Tereasa Gibson, of Gibson House and Home in St Johnston, said the attack had shocked local people.
“Everybody up there totally shocked. It's a very quiet wee area up there, everyone knows one another. Everyone would know their neighbours.
“It's not something you would want for the area" Joe Peoples, owner of Joe's Bar in St Johnston, agreed it was the "last thing you want to hear" in a "small community"
He said the shooting put the area is "in the news for the wrong reason".
Anyone with any information should contact Letterkenny Garda station on (00353)749167100
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2009,
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