‘Our hopes and dreams, all snuffed out by barbaric act’
LYRA McKee’s heartbroken partner has said her murder has ‘left me without the love of my life, the woman I was planning to grow old with’.
Speaking at a vigil in Derry’s Creggan estate where her partner had been killed just hours earlier, a tearful Sara Canning said what had happened was ‘senseless’.
She told the hundreds who had gathered to pay their respects: ‘The senseless murder of Lyra McKee has left a family without a beloved daughter, a sister, an aunt and a great aunt. It has left so many friends without their confidant.
‘Victims in the LGBTQIA community are left without a tireless advocate and activist. And it’s left me without the love of my life, the woman I was planning to grow old with. We are all poorer for the loss of Lyra.’
She added: ‘Our hopes and dreams and all of her amazing potential was snuffed out by a single barbaric act.
‘This cannot stand. Lyra’s death must not be in vain because her life was a shining light in everyone else’s life and her legacy will live on in the light that she has left behind.’
Reacting to Thursday night’s devastating murder, political groups from across the divide gathered yesterday afternoon to pay tribute to 29-year-old Ms McKee.
DUP leader Arlene Foster, in her first visit to the strongly nationalist area, insisted that the people of Northern Ireland would not tolerate a return to the violence of the past. ‘Why did I come today? I came to stand in solidarity with all of the people who are here today,’ she said.
‘I want to say your pain is my pain. It doesn’t matter whether you are Catholic or a Protestant. Whether you identify as Irish or British,’ she went on, to applause from the crowd.
She said the death of Ms McKee would not extinguish the hope of a brighter future for the people of Northern Ireland.
‘When people come out with guns to shoot people from their own community, then we have to say, enough is enough,’ Ms Foster said.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald also appeared, carrying the rainbow flag associated with the LGBT rights movement. She said: ‘I carry this flag for Lyra. An activist, a journalist, a child of the peace process and a woman who should not have lost her life at the age of 29.’
In Dublin, Leo Varadkar said that through her journalism and activism, Ms McKee had ‘changed our lives as she lived and will do so again in death’.
‘We will not be dragged back into the past,’ the Taoiseach said. ‘There is no place, nor any justification, for political violence in Ireland or Northern Ireland today.
‘This was an act of fear. This was an act of hate. This was an act of cowardice. Those who carried it out do not share the values of our nation, nor our Republic. We reject them.’
He added: ‘I want to express my solidarity with the people of Derry today. We stand with you as strong as your walls, and for as long as they stand.’
British prime minister Theresa May said: ‘The death of Lyra McKee in last night’s suspected terrorist incident in Londonderry is shocking and truly senseless. My deepest condolences go to her family, friends and colleagues.
‘She was a journalist who died doing her job with great courage.’
Visiting Belfast yesterday, President Michael D Higgins signed the book of condolences.
Afterwards he said: ‘The loss of a journalist at any time, in any part of the world, is an attack on truth itself. I think that the circumstances in which it happened – the firing on police forces who are seeking to defend the peace process – cannot be condoned by anybody.’
Tánaiste Simon Coveney said the killing had made him ‘sick to my stomach’ as he urged anyone with any information to come forward to the PSNI.
In 2016, Forbes Magazine had named Ms McKee as one of its ‘30 under 30 in media’, or 30 most influential figures under the age of 30 working in the media. She had been working on a new book which is due to be published in 2020.
Michelle Stanistreet, National
‘An act of fear, of hate, of cowardice’
Union of Journalists (NUJ) general secretary, said Ms McKee was one of the North’s most promising journalists. She said: ‘A young, vibrant life has been destroyed in a senseless act of violence.
‘A bright light has been quenched and that plunges all of us into darkness.’
Creggan resident George McGowan, who helped organise yesterday’s vigil, said the residents were a courageous and peaceful people. He said: ‘The events of last night have left us all sad, numb, frightened, bewildered, heartbroken, angry, ashamed, guilty and resolute.
‘This behaviour is not in our name; we have all been wounded by these actions. A young life is lost and we are left feeling vulnerable and ashamed.’
He added: ‘Come stand with us and send a clear message that this community will not allow anyone to pull us back to the past.’
Fr Joseph Gormley, parish priest in Creggan, said he saw the young woman lying in hospital after her life had been cruelly taken from her, with her broken-hearted family at her bedside. He paid tribute to the family’s dignity and accused dissidents of forcing their viewpoint on others using the barrel of a gun. ‘Have you no sense of humanity or dignity about yourself?’ he asked.
In Dublin, members of the public flocked to St Stephen’s Green yesterday afternoon to pay their respects to Ms McKee.
A photo of the young journalist was placed on the ground in front of a bust of 1916 revolutionary Countess Markievicz.
Members of the public, still reeling from her untimely death, laid candles and yellow flowers in tribute to the young writer.
Pride flags were also erected in that area of the park, to acknowledge her campaigning work for LGBT rights.
Those who attended the event described the vigil as ‘incredibly moving’.