{"id":535299,"date":"2026-07-06T06:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T06:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/535299\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T06:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T06:48:09","slug":"gardai-suspect-fatal-dun-laoghaire-shooting-was-a-botched-intimidation-attack-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/535299\/","title":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed suspect fatal D\u00fan Laoghaire shooting was a botched intimidation attack \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man fatally shot in south Dublin<\/a> on Sunday had gone to a pre-arranged meeting before being wounded in the leg and bleeding to death, garda\u00ed believe. <\/p>\n

It is the first fatal shooting in Ireland since 2024 and comes as gun crime has been trending lower in the Republic in recent years.<\/p>\n

The victim, Mark Cullen, who was 39 and from Shankill in south Dublin, was fatally wounded at about 8.30am at Patrician Park, Kill Avenue in D\u00fan Laoghaire<\/a>, in a suspected intimidation or punishment attack gone wrong. <\/p>\n

It appears the shooting occurred at a laneway but that Cullen tried to move from the scene to seek help before succumbing to his injuries.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed<\/a> suspect the gunman intended to wound the victim in the leg, rather than kill him. However, the injury was so severe Cullen bled to death at the scene.<\/p>\n

Investigating garda\u00ed believe he had links to a number of men involved in drug dealing in south Dublin. However, detectives have not established whether the shooting was linked to organised crime or to a personal dispute.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed have no knowledge of Cullen being involved in feuding linked to organised crime and there appears to be no intelligence suggesting his life was in danger.<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il councillor Justin Moylan said there was a great level of shock in the community. \u201cIt is a quiet, residential area and it\u2019s something that would not happen in this area, ever,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly not an area you would expect to see a fatal shooting in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fine Gael councillor Frank McNamara said it was \u201cshocking\u201d and \u201ccompletely out of character\u201d for the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a beautiful, quiet and peaceful area that has always been safe and this event is shocking because it is totally out of the blue and completely out of character.\u201d<\/p>\n

An elderly resident who has been living locally for most of his life also described the incident as \u201cshocking\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only heard about it on the news a few moments ago. It is a very quiet area with very nice people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is terrible when something like this happens, and my heart goes out to the family and people involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe scene where Mark Cullen (39) was shot dead in D\u00fan Laoghaire, Dublin. Detectives believe he was fatally wounded at about 8.30am on Sunday at Patrician Park, Kill Avenue. Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

When Cullen\u2019s remains were discovered, a significant Garda operation began, with a large scene cordoned off and road closures put in place, including at Kill Avenue and Glenageary Road Upper. <\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s remains were left in situ for much of the day pending the arrival of a pathologist to carry out a preliminary examination before removal for a full postmortem examination.<\/p>\n

\u201cA senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the investigation and an incident room has been established at D\u00fan Laoghaire Garda station,\u201d the Garda said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I didn\u2019t know what I was running over to\u2019 \u2013 Mother of boy hit by scrambler says locals are afraidOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s killing comes at a time of relative calm in gun crime in the Republic. Fatal shootings and other firearms offences \u2013 including possession or discharge of firearms \u2013 have plummeted since the Kinahan-Hutch feud petered out about eight years ago.<\/p>\n

Last year marked the first year for decades in which no lives were lost in shooting incidents in the State, either through gangland attacks or domestic incidents.<\/p>\n

However, garda\u00ed have become increasingly concerned with the rising level of violence in localised feuds in Limerick and parts of Dublin, which have involved a small number of non-fatal shootings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man fatally shot in south Dublin on Sunday had gone to a pre-arranged meeting before being wounded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,615,16089,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-535299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-dublin","tag-dun-laoghaire","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}