Hunt for ‘drug gang’s tall, athletic gun killer’
GARDAÍ have compiled a detailed description of the ‘tall, athletically built’ gangland killer who shot drug dealer Zach Parker dead outside a gym, and left his friend seriously injured.
A well-known drug-dealing Traveller gang is believed to be behind the murder.
Parker, 23, had been driving his BMW X5 out of a car park in Swords, Co. Dublin, with the friend in the passenger seat, when the gunman walked up to them and fired at least five shots into the car.
The lone killer hit Parker in the head and chest.
Parker died at the scene of the shooting on Thursday, and his 25year-old passenger was still in intensive care in Beaumont Hospital last night.
Sources say that it is believed Parker owed the Traveller gang several thousands of euro for cocaine. He was dealing drugs for the gang, according to the security sources, but was also ‘fond of his own product’.
Superintendent Gerard Donnelly yesterday described the gunman as tall, of athletic build and wearing a black hoodie top, with a black scarf covering his face, black tracksuit bottoms and black trainers which had white soles.
‘It’s understood he was carrying a grey or light-coloured rucksack that may have concealed the firearm,’ when he carried out the clinical murder at Applewood Close in Swords.
Local man Martin White, whose home overlooks the gym, said he was standing in his back garden when he heard the gunshots. He said: ‘I knew it was gunshots, and the emergency services came about five minutes later. I knew it was serious when I saw the amount of vehicles arriving.’
The injured man is known to gardaí for minor offences.
Parker, from Jugback Lane in Swords, was a convicted drug dealer. He was caught two years ago with cocaine worth almost €3,000.
Gardaí are working to establish a motive for the attack, but do not consider the dead man to be involved in serious organised crime.
Distraught family members visited the scene yesterday, which remained sealed off for a examination.
CCTV footage was being gathered and house-to-house inquiries were being carried out.
Gardaí at Swords are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to contact them by telephone at 01 666 4700 or the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111.