Drug dealer shot three times in the chest while walking dog near home.
A criminal has been shot while walking his dog near his home in Dublin.
Drug dealer David 'Daithi' Douglas (54) was targeted last night in a drive-by shooting 100 yards from his home in Cabra on the city's northside.
01 OF 2 PreviousNext Gardai cordon off KIllala Road, Cabra. Gardai cordon off KIllala Road, Cabra. He was hit at least three times in the chest after a car pulled up beside him and a gunman opened fire.
Neighbours raised the alarm and he was rushed to the Mater Hospital where he was clinging to life last night.
Douglas, who received a five-year prison sentence after he was caught with more than €500,000 worth of cocaine in 2008, was walking his dog near his home at Killala Road when the attacker opened fire at 7.30pm.
Gardai are investigating whether the Christy Kinahan cartel, with whom Douglas had close links, are responsible for the attempted murder.
A friend of the Douglases said last night that the family did not want to comment.
"His daughter is too upset," she said.
Locals said Douglas grew up in the house he lives in on Killala Road.
"He got in with a bad crowd a few years ago and it all went downhill," said one woman.
"But he's a proud man and always says hello to people he meets on the street when he's out walking the dog. It's a kind of a pit bull or something."
Bullet casings from the gun were recovered by gardai on the footpath where Douglas was shot. His condition last night was described as "serious".
Robbery
On April 10, 2008, Douglas and three other men were stopped in a taxi as part of a surveillance operation in the Pearse Street area and a black holdall containing eight kilos of cocaine, worth €562,000, was recovered.
At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in December 2011, Judge Tony Hunt sentenced Douglas to 10 years with five suspended.
He also had a previous conviction for shooting with intent to kill a garda during an armed robbery and received a 12-year sentence at the Special Criminal Court in March 1983.
"Everyone in this community is in shock after what has happened. This is completely out of context with the local area. People are stunned," said local Labour councillor Brendan Carr.
"People feel disappointed that these kind of attacks are taking place despite the efforts of the gardai. If someone is determined enough to commit these crimes it's hard to stop them. I would call on anyone who has any information to contact the gardai."
Former Lord Mayor Christy Burke said: "Gun violence just breeds violence. Nobody deserves to be shot like that. Any attempt on a human life is unacceptable.
"People are so used to gun crime that they may think nobody will be caught for this. Violence breeds misery and more misery."
