THE man fighting for life after a botched hit once posed as a homeless man — to target banks. The Irish Sun can reveal Karl ‘The Loan Ranger’ Wynne, 45, was caught on camera as gardai believed he was spying on cash in transit vans in March. Gardai issued a bulletin warning officers of his plans after he was spotted with another man close to the Bank of Ireland in Dublin city centre. Wynne, from Finglas, is in a critical condition after he was blasted once in the head and three times in the chest last Thursday night. The dad was shot by a motorbike pillion passenger who targeted him outside St Dominic’s Shopping Centre in Mountainview, Tallaght. Wynne — who was quizzed over the failed hit on fitness fanatic Sean Enright — remains on life support at Tallaght Hospital. His family have been told to prepare for the worst after he suffered “catastrophic injuries”.
Hobo ruse ... Wynne once dressed as street sleeper to case banks A source said: “He was well known to gardai and he was in fear of his life. “The fear was that he was planning something big before he was identified.” Wynne was branded the Loan Ranger after holding up a building society in 1999 and escaping in a taxi. And we can reveal he was also linked to an armed robbery at the Ulster Bank in Grafton Street earlier this year. Gardai confirmed yesterday Wynne had been known to them for a “considerable period of time”. Supt David Taylor urged anyone with information on the gun attack to come forward. Supt Taylor said: “It was a very warm night, one of the best summer nights we’ve had so a lot of people would have been out and about. “People who were in the area may have seen something.”
