Michael Devoy: shot up to four times at close range with a handgun TOM BRADY SECURITY EDITOR – 22 JANUARY 2014
GARDAI have recovered a revolver they believe was used in the weekend murder of Dublin criminal Michael Devoy.
The weapon was found in undergrowth about 50 metres from where Devoy's body was discovered by a routine detective patrol.
Ballistic tests are being carried out on the gun at the garda technical bureau in the Phoenix Park.
The revolver had been dumped in recent days at the spot in Bohernabreena, Tallaght, where it was found shortly after first light yesterday by a garda search team.
Devoy (41) was shot up to four times at close range in the left side of the head.
A post-mortem examination, carried out by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis, was unable to definitively determine the exact number of shots because of exit wounds but it is thought he could have been hit with four bullets from a handgun.
Searches of shrubbery and undergrowth along Foxhill Road continued yesterday while gardai extended their hunt for a silver-coloured hatchback car, used in the getaway by at least two killers shortly before 11pm.
Gardai think Devoy, from Balbutcher Drive, Poppintree, Ballymun, was shot dead after a €30,000 contract was placed on his head on the orders of a major Irish crime figure who is currently living overseas.
Devoy was targeted after he was blamed for pulling the trigger in the attempted murder of convicted heroin dealer Greg Lynch outside a pub in Dublin's north inner city last October.
HUNT
Meanwhile, Assistant Garda Commissioner John Twomey, who is in charge of policing in the Dublin region, has pledged that all available resources are being deployed in the hunt for the killers.
He said yesterday that officers were taking overt and covert action with high visibility uniformed patrols backed up by plainclothes units.
Mr Twomey called on members on the public who had information that could prove useful to the garda investigations into the recent spate of violent deaths to come forward and promised that they would be treated with the strictest confidence.
"We need the support of the community to bring the perpetrators of these absolutely horrific crimes to justice and the public can play a vital role in helping us," he added.
