Ireland’s Journalist, McKee Murdered In Alleged Terrorist Melee

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, World News Friday, April 19th, 2019

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A young Northern Ireland’s journalist, Lyra McKee has been shot dead during a riot which the police considered as a terrorist incident.

Dissident republicans have been blamed for the killing, after violence broke out during police searches in Londonderry Thursday.

Police claimed that a group known as the New IRA “are likely to be the ones” responsible for her murder.

Ms McKee’s partner said she had been left without “the love of my life”.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has described the killing as “shocking and senseless”.

Ms McKee was a journalist who “died doing her job with great courage”, Mrs May mourned.

Also, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has described the late journalist as “one of the most promising journalists” in Northern Ireland.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) claimed that a gunman fired shots towards police officers in Derry’s Creggan area at about 23:00 Thursday.

Report said mobile phone footage taken by a bystander during the rioting appears to show a masked gunman crouching down on the street and opening fire with a handgun.

Ms McKee, who was said to be standing near a police 4×4 vehicle, was wounded.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said “She was taken away from the scene in a police Land Rover to Altnagelvin Hospital but unfortunately she has died’’.

In their reaction, leaders of Northern Ireland’s six biggest political parties said they were “united in rejecting those responsible’’ for the killing.

In a joint statement, they said: “Lyra’s murder was also an attack on all the people of this community, an attack on the peace and democratic processes.

“It was a pointless and futile act to destroy the progress made over the last 20 years, which has the overwhelming support of people everywhere.”

Meanwhile, detectives have started a murder inquiry and the PSNI’s Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin alleged “evil people” had been behind the killing.