Young man is shot dead over drug debt

Convicted dealer gunned down outside Dublin gym

A YOUNG man was shot dead last night over a drugs debt to a Traveller gang, the Mail understands.

The victim, a convicted drug dealer named locally as Zach Parker, was shot the head and chest in a car park outside a gym in Applewood Close in Swords, Co. Dublin.

A second man, also in his 20s, was shot in the chest and arm and is in a critical condition in hospital.

This man is expected to survive. This man is not thought to be the target of the shooting.

The men were coming from Gym Plus in Applewood, Swords, when the shooting happened at around 7.30pm yesterday evening.

Security sources say that Parker, who was operating as a local drug dealer, had ‘fallen foul’ of a local Traveller drugs gang.

Sources say the victim ‘owed significant cash’ to the gang.

Gardaí believe he was also ‘using his own product’.

Parker avoided jail after being convicted of drugs offences last year.

In April 2017, Parker, of Jugback Lane, Swords, pleaded guilty to possession of €2,950 worth of cocaine and having the drug for sale or supply at the Malahide roundabout on February 4, 2017.

Garda David Smith told Swords District Court in April he saw Parker driving a car in an erratic manner near the roundabout in north Dublin.

He signalled for him to stop, but Parker drove for a further 20 metres before stopping.

He then locked the car doors and told Gda Smith to ‘f*** off’.

He was eventually convinced to open the door.

A violent struggle ensued and Parker assaulted the garda, who said he had ‘no lasting injuries’.

Defence lawyer Annette Kealy said Parker had arranged with friends that he would pick up the drugs.

‘A number of mates contributed to the cost of the drugs and the struggle ensued as he panicked,’ she said.

Ms Kealy said the defendant, then aged 22, turned to drugs as a coping mechanism after his grandmother became terminally ill.

‘He cared for her and relied on her. He began to take drugs as a coping mechanism and got into a drug habit,’ she said in April of last year.

She said Parker, who had worked as a barber, lost his job as a result of his conviction.

She said he had been barber for seven years – which means he would have started when he was 15.

Judge Dermot Dempsey ordered Parker to complete 240 hours of community service, in lieu of three months in prison, and that €1,000 be paid to the Merchants Quay Project.

Last night’s shooting took place in a busy area of the village right opposite a creche.

It is believed that four gunshots were fired.

The scene was closed by gardaí who arrived shortly after the incident occurred.

Crowds of people came down to view the aftermath.

Local man Martin White, whose home overlooks the gym, said that he was standing in his back garden when he heard four gunshots and he said: ‘I knew they weren’t fireworks.’

‘I knew it was gunshots and the emergency services came about five minutes later and I knew it was serious when I saw the amount of vehicles arriving.

‘It was quiet [beforehand], I didn’t hear an awful lot going on, no cars speeding away or anything like that,’ he added.

Fingal county councillor Duncan Smith said that the area is a ‘vibrant’ and ‘lovely’ area.

He remarked: ‘A lot of young people, a lot of families use this area on a daily basis and this happened right at coming home time, commuter time, people using the gym, collecting kids, going to get their bits for their dinner and absolutely shocked that something like this cam happen right out in the open.’

Mr Smith said that it was an absolute tragedy that one of the men had died and that the other man was seriously injured.

‘I knew it was gunshots’