Gardai are braced for associates of the gangster who survived a submachine gun ambush to seek revenge.
Sources told the Irish Mirror investigators fear a reprisal attack is imminent following the murder bid on James “Nellie” Walsh, 36, in South Dublin. The convicted criminal was hit in the head when he was sitting in a car in Killinarden in Tallaght on Tuesday but was not seriously injured. A woman who was also in the vehicle was uninjured.
Sources claim the attack, using an Israeli-made Uzi sub-machine gun, was an attempt to kill Walsh who was released from prison in July. A source said: “They wanted him dead. He was a very lucky man.”
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Walsh, who served more than seven years over a shooting in the city in 2014, has been involved in a long-running feud with another criminal and gardai suspect that was the motive for the attack. Now they fear associates of Walsh, regarded as one of Dublin’s most volatile hoods, will target the man they blame for the shooting.
That criminal was himself given an official Garda warning in recent months as tensions escalated. Officers believe that man struck first but they are braced for Walsh’s supporters to respond.
A security source said: “They will be after him now. The suspicion is he tried to kill Nellie and failed, now Walsh’s people will be out for his blood.” Walsh, who is from Clondalkin but had a last known address in Co Westmeath, was hospitalised but his life in not in any danger.
He was sitting in a car in Donomore Crescent when it was sprayed with gunfire. The attackers escaped in a van. There have been no arrests yet and gardai are investigating.
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