LONDON – Police in Northern Ireland searched for multiple suspects Friday after the fatal shooting of a journalist during rioting in Londonderry and soug
LONDON – Police in Northern Ireland searched for multiple suspects Friday after the fatal shooting of a journalist during rioting in Londonderry and sought help from the public to get ‘a killer off the streets’ and into custody.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said 29-year-old journalist Lyra McKee was shot and killed, probably by a stray bullet, during overnight rioting in the city’s Creggan neighborhood. It said the New IRA dissident group was most likely responsible.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said a gunman fired a number of shots at police during the unrest that began Thursday evening.
‘We believe this to be a terrorist act,’ he said.
Police on Friday night released closed-circuit TV footage showing the man suspected of firing the shots that killed McKee.
Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy said the footage shows ‘the gunman at the corner and an individual picking up something from the ground on the same corner. We are releasing this to encourage anyone with information to make contact with us.’
He said locals know the identity of the gunman and urged them to come forward ‘to try to help us take a killer off the streets.’
The killing reminded many of the decades of violence that plagued Northern Ireland before the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. It was condemned by all the major political parties as well as the prime ministers of Britain and Ireland.
