Northern Ireland

Police appeal over Martin McElkerney 'show of strength'

A masked gunman fires shots outside the house where former INLA prisoner Martin McElkerney was being waked in west Belfast.
A masked gunman fires shots outside the house where former INLA prisoner Martin McElkerney was being waked in west Belfast. A masked gunman fires shots outside the house where former INLA prisoner Martin McElkerney was being waked in west Belfast.

POLICE have renewed their appeal for information following the show of strength in the wake of the death of former INLA prisoner Martin McElkerney.

PSNI detectives made a number of enquiries in the Divis area of west Belfast yesterday as part of their inquiries after a masked man, flanked by five others in balaclavas, fired an assault rifle into the air outside the property in Ross Street where the wake was taking place.

Describing the gunshots as "shocking and reckless", Detective Inspector Carol Dane said the paramilitary display was "also a criminal act, which was carried out by those who seek to control communities through fear of violence".

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She added: "We visited the area and carried out house-to-house enquiries and a further trawl for CCTV footage as part of our ongoing investigation. I believe there are many in the Divis area who feel that violence has no place in their community, and it is them I appeal to when I ask for information."