Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GUN THAT KILLED LYRA
Find is ‘significant step forward’ in investigation into killing of journalist
THIS is the gun the New IRA used to kill journalist Lyra Mckee at a riot in Derry.
It was found during two days of searches covering 38 acres over a site near the city at the weekend.
The 29-year-old was shot dead on the Creggan estate on April 18 last year.
Det Supt Jason Murphy said: “Today’s confirmation is a significant step forward.”
POLICE confirmed yesterday a gun found during a massive search operation last week was the weapon used to shoot Lyra Mckee.
A forensic examination of the unusual .22 calibre pistol has linked it to the journalist’s killing during disorder in Derry in April last year.
After trawling through hours of footage from the riot that lead to the 29-year-old’s death, detectives spotted the gunman appeared to have fired two shots before the weapon jammed.
He then wrestled with the Hammerli X-esse – a German-made competition pistol – to clear the blockage before firing two more shots.
Live bullets ejected from the firearm as the gunman struggled to clear the blockage were retrieved and removed from the scene before police could get them.
However, casings were recovered by the PSNI and are understood to have become a key element of the inquiry.
One source said because the gunman struggled to clear the weapon after it jammed they may have contacted internal mechanisms that would not normally be touched.
EXAMINATION
This is also playing a role in the gun’s examination with all its parts scoured for clues.
Sources close to the inquiry said the testing is ongoing and may yet provide further evidence as to the gunman’s identity.
It is thought the fatal shot was the third or fourth round.
Det Supt Jason Murphy from Serious Crime Branch said yesterday: “Examinations of the gun recovered in Ballymagroarty last weekend have now confirmed this is the gun that killed Lyra.
“That collective effort has never been simply directed towards the person who pulled the trigger.
“I am as clear today as I have ever been that the bringing of that gun on to the streets involved a number of senior figures in the New IRA.
“Today’s confirmation is a significant step forward and opens up a new avenue of investigation for my team.
“We will be relentless in pursuing opportunities to bring to justice every person who was involved in the chain of events that led to the gunman indiscriminately firing four shots. Those shots were fired intentionally towards police Landrovers, placing many officers at significant risk of death or serious injury. “The presence of bystanders like Lyra who were watching was an inconvenience to the terrorists but the gunman placed no importance on that.
“Any reasonable assessment must be that for the New IRA, the community were, and continue to be, expendable collateral damage.”
Det Supt Murphy said Lyra’s death “was an inevitable and entirely predictable result of terrorist violence”.
He added: “The police investigation also extends to the disappearance of the weapon after it was fired.
“Somebody was able to transport this gun and its ammunition from Creggan to Ballymagroarty and hide them in a field, within 250 yards of local housing.
“This placed other members of the public at further considerable risk.
The disregard shown by the New IRA is staggering but unsurprising.
“They continue to put their own agenda above the rights of local communities to live in peace.”
Speaking about the examination of the firearm, Det Supt Murphy said: “A very detailed forensic examination of the gun, ammunition and the plastic bags in which they were wrapped is currently ongoing.
“The gun jammed as the gunman fired and I know from the video footage that the gunman tried several times to eject the jammed rounds.
“For that reason, I have asked scientists to extend their forensic examination beyond the outside of the gun and forensically examine the inside mechanisms of it to establish if the gunman, in his haste to clear the blockage, may have left forensic traces.
“We are using the most advanced DNA technology available and we