Cocaine Wars by Mick McCaffrey

her boyfriend lay sleeping. The light was on in the bedroom and bathroom, so McEnroe had a good view. A couple of seconds later, she heard the sound of a gunshot and knew that Brian had been shot. After another couple of seconds, the two shooters ran past her. She shouted ‘You dirty bastard, come back here’ and ran into the hallway towards the front door as the men were leaving. The two gunmen were wearing dark clothes and balaclavas. As they turned around towards her, one of the men had pulled his mask up revealing half of his face. He stared at her and just laughed. He was quite small in size with a fat head. She later told Gardaí that she didn’t know who he was, but if she saw him again she would be able to recognise him. The second gunman was a lot taller and was carrying a shotgun in his right hand. The pair then left the house and sped away in a waiting car.
    Natasha ran back into the bedroom and found Brian covered in blood lying on the bed. She quickly rang 999 and asked for an ambulance and the Gardaí.
    Sharon Rattigan was woken upstairs by the sound of loud banging and the unmistakable noise of breaking glass. She was afraid to leave her bedroom to investigate what was happening. She heard the gunshot coming from the vicinity of her brother’s bedroom downstairs. She then heard Natasha screaming, and after a few minutes she went down, and saw Brian covered in blood. Sharon never saw the gunmen. Shay O’Byrne was in bed beside Sharon and also woke up when the loud noise started. He was afraid that whoever was downstairs was going to come up. He could hear footsteps on the wooden floor downstairs, and after a loud bang he heard Natasha McEnroe crying out. He then heard a car being driven away. He ran down and saw Brian lying critically injured. Dinah Rattigan also got a rude awakening and heard the words ‘they’re shooting’ coming from a room below. She ran down to confront the gunmen. She was too late, however, and looked out the front-room window to see three men wearing balaclavas running away. Fearing the worst, she ran into the back bedroom and saw Brian. There was a large hole in his back with blood oozing out of the wound. It was obvious that his condition was extremely serious.
    At 4.00 a.m. the crew of the Sundrive Road patrol car, Gardaí Michael O’Donovan and Michael Reidy, responded to a call reporting a shooting at Cooley Road. They were met at the front driveway by a visibly upset and distressed Joey Rattigan. Garda Reidy went into the house and found Brian Rattigan with blood coming out of an open wound. Garda O’Donovan observed five shotgun cartridges on the ground outside the house, and the scene was sealed off. Shortly afterwards, Jerome Rouiller and Dermot O’Reilly from the Dolphin’s Barn Fire Station arrived at the scene, after receiving notification of the call eight minutes earlier. They observed that the victim had gunshot wounds to his stomach and back. After dressing the wounds, they rushed Rattigan to St James’s Hospital. When he arrived at the hospital, Rattigan’s injuries were thought to be life-threatening, and doctors feared that he would not survive. He had suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of his back, with the bullet exiting through the abdomen. Because the shot was from very close range, it would not have been at all surprising if he died. There was little doubt that his shooting was a bona fide murder attempt, not just a warning.
    Over the next few days, his condition gradually improved, and although it took nearly three months of recuperation, Rattigan would live to see another day. His would-be assassins had failed, and there was little doubt that Rattigan would strike back.
    A technical examination of the scene recovered three different types of bullets, indicating that three firearms had been used by the assassination team. There was evidence that at least five shotgun rounds had been fired outside