Crowds have gathered in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, in an act of solidarity with John Caldwell, the detective chief inspector who was shot on Wednesday night.
DCI Caldwell was left critically ill and sustained life-changing injuries when he was shot several times in front of his young son after coaching an under-15s football team in Omagh, police said.
Police arrested a fifth man, aged 43, on Friday in connection with the attempted murder, while four other men, aged 22, 38, 45 and 47, who had already been arrested, remain in police custody.
Police have confirmed that the dissident republican group the New IRA was their primary line of inquiry.
On Saturday morning, crowds gathered in Beragh, about eight miles from Omagh, in a vigil for Caldwell.
They took part in a walk from the Beragh Swifts football ground to show solidarity with Caldwell, who is a volunteer youth coach at the club.
The Beragh Swifts chair, Richard Lyons, said the community had gathered in support of their friend and for all the children that had been affected by the shooting.
“It’s been a very difficult time for the club, it’s been a very difficult time for the community,” he said.
“John worked tirelessly for this club, he’s no different to any other volunteer … the contribution that John gives to this club is phenomenal, and this is an unbelievably difficult time for us all.”
A rally was due to take place in Omagh town centre – close to where a 1998 bombing killed 29 people in the single most deadly atrocity of Northern Ireland’s Troubles – later on Saturday.
The events were held as assistant chief constable Mark McEwan confirmed that police were treating the attack, which happened in the car park of a sports complex, as terrorist-related.
“Our primary line of inquiry is the New IRA,” he said. “Detectives want anyone who was in the area or who witnessed what happened to call 101 quoting reference number 1831 of 22/02/23.”
The latest arrest took place in the Stewartstown area of the town under the Terrorism Act and comes as a number of events were due to be held on Saturday, in solidarity with Caldwell.
Caldwell, a senior officer who has led high-profile investigations into paramilitaries and other criminals, is understood to have been shot four times.
While no one has claimed responsibility, the New IRA is known to have launched sporadic attacks on police and prison officers in recent years.
It was the most serious attack on the police since a booby-trap bomb killed a constable, Ronan Kerr, in 2011.
Police and intelligence services have thwarted many attempted attacks since then.
Wednesday’s attack occurred 20 miles (32km) from Strabane, where a New IRA improvised explosive device damaged a police patrol car last November. The two officers inside were not hurt.
