Paramilitary-style attack condemned by local councillors
A MAN has been shot in both legs in west Belfast in a paramilitary-style attack.
The victim, who is in his 30s, was shot in both legs in an alleyway close to the Westrock Gardens/Springhill Drive area of the city at around 10.30pm on Saturday.
He was taken to hospital for treatment.
Detective Inspector Paul Wright said: “While this man’s injuries are not life-threatening, they may well be life-changing.
“This was a brutal attack and yet another example of how criminal groups seek to control communities through fear and violence.”
He added: “I would appeal to anyone with information about this attack to contact detectives at Musgrave on
101, quoting reference number 1506 of 4/8/18.” Resident Angela Whelan told the BBC: “At 10.30pm I heard the big bangs and I thought it was fireworks,” she said. “Then I heard people shouting so I went up the stairs and looked out the bedroom window.”
She said she saw the victim lying injured on the ground, bleeding heavily.
SDLP councillor Tim Attwood said: “These types of attacks have no place in a civilised society, nobody has the right to take the law into their own hands.
“The SDLP’s message is clear, groups carrying out such attacks need to get off the backs of communities.
“We would ask that anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers on 101.”
Sinn Fein councillor Steven Corr told the BBC: “What we have here is a multitude of armed groups in our area, small groupings, small factions who sometimes take it on themselves to be judge, jury and executioner.
“There’s a strange numbness when it comes to these shootings. People just go ‘there’s another one’ and one of these shootings is too many for a normal society.”