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Emotional scenes in contrast to city's recent celebrations

THE heart-wrenching scenes as the father, mother and younger brother of Barry McCrory huddled comforting each other at the scene of his murder was in marked contrast to Derry's image as city of culture.

Just two months before, Shipquay Street teemed with visitors from all over the world gathered to celebrate everything that is good about Irish culture.

In the street outside the flat where Mr McCrory was gunned down, pipes and fiddles played as people danced with exuberance.

Just yards away, TG4 broadcast nightly scenes from the All Ireland Fleadh to Irish people in every corner of the earth. But all that joy seemed a million miles from the raw emotion of murder. Mr McCrory was shot dead in an upstairs flat on one of Derry's busiest streets.

As the city went about the business of a normal Thursday morning, his killer calmly put a gun to his head and ended his life.

As news spread, the victim's heartbroken parents and younger brother arrived at the scene.

Unable to go into the flat they stopped for a while on the street, comforting each other and trying to take in what they had just been told. Curious onlookers, who gathered at the police cordon, stood in silence as they watched another family ripped apart by grief.

A short time later a woman was helped from the flat, clearly in shock, and assisted away from the scene and from the horrors that she had probably witnessed inside. Shipquay Street has seen its share of murders during the Troubles. It has been blown apart and rebuilt.

But for the shoppers and city centre workers who stopped at the scene yesterday their faces told the story of fear and the anger that the violent days they hoped had passed had returned once again.