Community to protest for two weeks after gardai shoot ‘ill’ man in garden

PROTESTERS angry at the death of a man shot dead by gardai are vowing to gather outside Dublin’s Blanchardstown Garda Station for the next two weeks.

And George Nkencho’s sister has pleaded with the public to not share videos of her brother (27) being shot by officers after footage was circulated on social media.

She said he had “serious mental illness and those who knew him know the type of person he was, he was not a thug nor a criminal”.

In an online statement she wrote: “Thank you all for your condolences and prayers. My siblings and I have witnessed the most traumatic experience of our lives as our brother was shot in front of us.”

She added: “I kindly ask to refrain from sharing the video of the shooting. It is not something I wish to be reminded of.”

One of the organisers of yesterday’s protest at Blanchardstown Garda Station said they will be protesting outside the station for the next 14 mornings.

Protester JK Onwumereh said the community was angry and wanted a fair and thorough investigation into Mr Nkencho’s death in Clonee on the Dublin-meath border two days ago.

“The community organised this protest. It’s spontaneous. Obviously we are commiserating with the family,” he said.

“The expectation is to express how the community feels — but also to state very clearly that we don’t think what happened has a place within this community in the general sense.

“We want justice to be done. So we want a thorough investigation into the incident in question because there are a lot of grey areas and things that people don’t understand.”

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar tweeted: “My sympathies go to the family of the young man who lost his life in Clonee yesterday. Thoughts also with the gardaí and shop workers who were involved in the incident.”

Mr Nkencho was shot in the garden of his home by gardaí at around 12.35pm on Wednesday and later pronounced dead in hospital.

He was armed with a knife and gardaí had received reports of disturbances in a nearby shopping centre. Senior sources said the decision to fire shots was because the garda believed there was an “imminent threat to life”.

“He had been pepper sprayed and tasered but when this did not work the use of lethal force became necessary. There were concerns that he could kill someone,” a source said.