POLICE are finding it difficult to identify gunmen involved in paramilitary shootings because victims are reluctant to give evidence against their attackers, a senior police officer has admitted.
PSNI district commander for Derry and Strabane Darrin Jones was responding to three shootings in Derry and Belfast in recent days.
In the latest attack, two men forced their way into a house at Whitethorn Drive in the nationalist Currynierin area and shot a man in his fifties in the legs. The victim was treated at Altnagelvin hospital following the incident which occurred shortly before 11pm on Thursday.
The attack followed the shooting of a 21-year-old man in Dunmurry on Wednesday and another incident in Derry's Bogside on Tuesday. There have been 14 paramilitary shootings across Northern Ireland this year, with seven in Derry.
Mr Jones said statistics hid the fact that behind every incident an individual was injured by “thugs with guns” who wanted to control communities through fear and violence.
"It's difficult to understand how there could be community support for this type of barbaric criminal action which denies vital opportunities for growth and suppresses social development in areas of greatest need," he said.
"Indeed, it would be both naive and dangerous to thing that these attacks are carried out as some form of justice on behalf of the community."
He said dissident republicans were behind the attacks which were linked to wider criminal activity, including the selling and supply of drugs and extortion.
However, he admitted that, while the attacks could not go unchallenged, police faced difficulty in bringing those responsible to justice.
"We recognise the difficulties this presents in terms of members of the public providing information. Identifying those involved in these attacks can be difficult due to the reluctance of victims to give evidence to police. However, we have robustly targeted the gangs involved in order to degrade their capability and arrest and charge them with other crimes they are involved in," he said.
The latest attack has been widely condemned. SDLP leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said the attacks have become “frighteningly routine” while Derry mayor Brian Tierney said the attacks intimidated an entire community.
Sinn Féin councillor Paul Fleming called for an immediate end.
"There is no place for these type of incidents in our society and those behind them need to realise that and go away," Mr Fleming said.
