Journalist killed in ‘barbaric act’
ONE of Northern Ireland’s most promising journalists had her dreams snuffed out in a barbaric killing, her partner has said.
Lyra McKee, 29, from Belfast was an innocent bystander shot in the head by dissident republicans during disturbances in Londonderry on Thursday evening.
The published author’s partner Sara Canning said it was a senseless murder.
“Our hopes and dreams and all of her amazing potential was snuffed out by this single barbaric act,” she said.
Ms Canning said it has left so many friends without their confidante.
“Victims and the LGBTQI community are left without a tireless advocate and activist and it has left me without the love of my life, the woman I was planning to grow old with,” she added.
“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 and the life that she has left behind.”
Police have blamed the anti-peace process New IRA for the killing after handgun shots aimed at their officers were fired indiscriminately in the Creggan estate.
Detectives believe the violence was orchestrated in response to an earlier search by officers aimed at averting imminent trouble associated with this week’s anniversary of the Easter Rising.
They said more than one person was involved in the murder.
Mobile phone footage taken by a bystander appeared to show a masked gunman crouching down on the street in the Creggan estate and firing with a handgun.
Ms McKee was standing near a police vehicle and was fatally wounded.
She was taken to hospital by officers but later died.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the killing was “shocking and senseless”.
The New IRA is an amalgam of a series of armed groups opposed to the peace process. It claimed responsibility for a number of parcel bombs sent to London and Glasgow recently. The threat posed to police in Northern Ireland is high.
It is understood Ms McKee had recently moved to Derry to live with “love of her life” Sara.
She was an editor for California-based news site Mediagazer, a trade publication covering the media industry.
Michelle Stanistreet, National Union of Journalists (NUJ) general secretary, said Ms McKee was one of the most promising journalists in Northern Ireland.
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.”
Deputy chief constable Stephen Martin criticised those behind earlier violent scenes during which more than 50 petrol bombs were thrown and two cars burned.
He also defended the decision to launch an operation earlier on Thursday aimed at thwarting dissident plans for “imminent” violence.