Gardai have today arrested three men in connection with the murder of Dean Johnson at Harelawn Green, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 on August 24th 2013.

The men, who are aged in their 20s, and one in his 30s, were arrested in the Dublin area.

Two are detained at Lucan Garda Station and one at Ronanstown Garda Station.

Thirteen people in total have been arrested in connection with this investigation to date.

21-year-old Dean Johnson was gunned down in a cruel and callous manner just yards from his home in Clondalkin, west Dublin.

Three people were involved in his death. One gunman shot at him from a distance before a second gunman stood over him as he lay on the ground and shot him a number of times.

Gardai believe that he was killed in a case of mistaken identity.

A nearby neighbour who rushed out of her house recalled the horrific moment when she realised what had just happened.



“I was the first one there,” the woman, who did not want to be named, said.

“I knew Dean well, but I couldn’t recognise him because there was so much blood on his face.
“He was gurgling and making a horrible sound in this throat, like he was trying to say something, but I couldn’t do anything.”

The young woman, who was still clearly in shock, told how she tried to help the victim as she called an ambulance.

“The ambulance men were telling me over the phone to turn him over,” she recalled as she sat trembling on her doorstep. “I didn’t want to but I did and, oh God, there was so much blood. I could see that he had been shot in the head, but there were loads of other wounds on his body. He died before anybody got here.”
Other neighbours who went to help the young man as he died on the pavement were too frightened to talk to the Sunday World.

A number of months after the murder, his brother Andrew (31) told the Sunday World the killing had devastated the family.