The police officer who was shot in an ambush in Northern Ireland on Wednesday night is heavily sedated and “fighting for his life”, colleagues have said.
DCI John Caldwell, 48, is critically ill and sustained life-changing injuries, police said on Friday, as four suspects continued to be questioned.
The gravity of Caldwell’s injuries emerged as leaders of Northern Ireland’s five main political parties met to show unity and support for the police. The leaders gave a joint press conference after a briefing from Simon Byrne, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, said: “It is so important in moments like this that we stand united, and we do stand here united as one voice in our condemnation against this horrific attack on a police officer, someone who is part of our community.
“The most powerful message that we as political leaders can send is to stand with the chief constable today, with the police service and to say: ‘This is not good enough, this is an attack on all of us, an attack on our community.”
Jeffrey Donaldson, the Democratic Unionist party leader, pledged that the police would have the necessary resources to combat such attacks. “To the evil people who carried out this heinous attack, and to their organisation: you are not the future of this place. We stand against you.”
Four men, aged 22, 38, 45 and 47, are being questioned at Musgrave serious crime suite in connection with the attack.
Two men shot Caldwell several times while he was off duty and putting footballs in the boot of his car at about 8pm on Wednesday at a sports complex in Omagh, County Tyrone.
The chief constable told reporters Caldwell remained critically ill in hospital and was “fighting for his life”. Liam Kelly, the chair of Northern Ireland’s Police Federation, said the injuries were life-changing.
Caldwell, a senior officer who has led high-profile investigations into paramilitaries and other criminals, is understood to have been shot four times. No one has claimed responsibility but police said the primary line of inquiry was focused on dissident republican groups, especially the New IRA, which has 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.
The market town of Omagh was the scene of the worst attack of the Troubles when a car bomb killed 29 people in 1998. The device had been left by the Real IRA, a dissident republican group opposed to the peace process.
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.
At the joint press conference Doug Beattie, the Ulster Unionist party leader, said those responsible for the attack had “depraved ends”. Colum Eastwood, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour party, said the attempted murder represented nobody and would achieve nothing. The Alliance MP Stephen Farry said all five parties were united in condemning the attack.
