Shooting in Northern Ireland leaves two people dead and two seriously injured
Police sealed off the Drummeer Road area of Maguiresbridge, a village 8 miles from Enniskillen, on Wednesday and said there was no ongoing risk to the public.
'We can confirm two people have died, and two people are being treated in hospital for serious injuries,' a police spokesperson said.
The ambulance service said it had received a call at 8.21am and dispatched emergency crews to the scene. An air ambulance took one injured person to the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast and an ambulance took the other to South West Acute hospital in Enniskillen.
Politicians expressed shock and sadness. 'My thoughts are with the victims and their families at this tragic time,' said Pat Cullen, the Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. 'I would urge people to not speculate on the details of this tragic and shocking incident.'
Deborah Erskine, a Democratic Unionist party (DUP) assembly member, said the community was stunned. 'The area of Maguiresbridge where this has happened is a rural, quiet area and everyone is deeply affected by what has happened,' she said. 'My deepest condolences are with the families of those who have been killed as a result of this incident. Their lives have been turned upside down this morning.'
Arlene Foster, the former DUP leader who grew up near the area, said: 'I am so very sorry for the family involved and praying for all impacted by this horrific act.'
Several local representatives said the incident was 'domestic'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Man who attempted to kidnap Princess Anne in 1974 claims innocence
The gunman who shot police officers during a botched attempt to kidnap Princess Anne has claimed he is innocent, six years after being released from a psychiatric hospital. Ian Ball, who uses the pseudonym Anthony Stewart, claimed he expected Queen Elizabeth II's daughter to have been swapped for a double and the gunpowder removed from his bullets ahead of the attempt in March 1974. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Ball also said the queen had been the 'ringleader' of a plot that led him to be wrongfully jailed. 'I'm an innocent, sane man,' the 77-year-old said. Ball, then 26, chased Anne and her then-husband Captain Mark Phillips in their limousine through central London as they drove towards Buckingham Palace after a charity film screening more than five decades ago. He eventually cornered the royal couple and their lady in waiting in the Mall, yards from the palace, forcing their car to stop. In the attempt to drag Anne away, he shot her bodyguard, chauffeur, a police officer, and a journalist. The princess was said to have infamously retorted 'not bloody likely' when he asked him to go with her. A passing retired heavyweight boxer, Ronnie Russell, subdued Ball and punched him. Anne's bodyguard, former Metropolitan police inspector Jim Beaton, was awarded the George Cross after being shot three times as he protected Anne. Ball said: '[Anne] wasn't bothered on the night. I didn't scare her. I was more scared than she was.' Ball pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder, attempted kidnap and wounding at the Old Bailey months after the crime. He was detained without time limit under the Mental Health Act, and spent 45 years in Broadmoor and Rampton psychiatric hospitals. He was released in 2019. He was hoping to get a £3m ransom from the queen. However, he now claims the plot was always supposed to have failed and was an attempt to garner publicity to sell an autobiography. He said he was aided by an apparent local police officer, 'Frank', who was supposed to have swapped the bullets and the princess. He told the Mail: 'I had good reason to believe the gunpowder had been taken out of the bullets and another girl had been substituted for Princess Anne.' Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion He added: 'The whole idea of performing the hoax was to get the publicity so I could write my autobiography and I expected to get £10,000 in royalties.' He also denied Anne had uttered the famous line, instead telling her would-be kidnapper: 'You just go away and nobody will think any more about it.' Ball has written an self-published autobiographical novel on the incident, To Kidnap a Princess. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'Restricted patients can be recalled back to hospital if their mental health deteriorates to such a level that the risk they pose becomes unmanageable in the community.' Anne, who was 23 at the time of the attempted kidnapping, later said she was 'furious at this man who was having a tug of war with me' and for ripping her favourite blue velvet dress. Anne's father, Prince Philip, later quipped of the attempted kidnapping: 'If the man had succeeded in abducting Anne, she would have given him a hell of a time in captivity.'
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Police continue to search for Montana gunman who killed four people in a bar
Authorities continued to search Saturday afternoon for the man accused of killing four people at a Montana bar. Local, state and federal law enforcement were looking for 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown, a US army veteran who lived in a small town, Anaconda, next to The Owl Bar, where on Friday morning he allegedly opened fire and killed a bartender and three patrons. Officials located Brown's abandoned white truck according to Lee Johnson, Montana division of criminal investigation administrator. They concentrated their search in the mountains west of Anaconda, a town of less than 10,000 residents that was centered around a copper processing facility. 'This is a small, tight-knit community that has been harmed by the heinous actions of one individual who does not represent what this community or Montanans stand for,' Johnson said. On Friday night, nearby residents were encouraged to stay inside their homes and be on high alert as law enforcement believed Brown was armed and dangerous, Johnson said. But on Saturday afternoon, Bill Sather, the Anaconda-Deer Lodge police chief, told residents it was 'OK to go about your business in town' but to use caution and report anything suspicious to law enforcement. Authorities released a photo of Brown, who is 5ft 10in tall; weighs about 170lbs; and has blue eyes and brown hair, according to USA Today. The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting local and state police with the search, according to posts on X. As of Saturday afternoon, law enforcement had not released the names of the victims. Brown served in the US army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005 and was deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005, according to an army spokesperson. He was in the Montana national guard from 2006 to March 2009 and left military service in the rank of sergeant. 'This isn't just a drunk/high man going wild,' Brown's niece, Clare Boyle, wrote in a Facebook message to the Associated Press. 'It's a sick man who doesn't know who he is sometimes and frequently doesn't know where or when he is either.' Montana ranked second worst in the country in terms of prevalence of mental illness and access to care, according to the non-profit Mental Health America. Two-thirds of adults in Montana also lived in homes with guns, the highest rate in the country, according to a 2016 study from RAND, a thinktank. The owner of the Firefly Café in Anaconda told the Associated Press that she locked up her business after a friend alerted her to the shooting. 'We are Montana, so guns are not new to us,' Barbie Nelson said. 'For our town to be locked down, everybody's pretty rattled.' Associated Press contributed reporting
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Win a copy of No Safe Place by Hannah Brennan in this week's Fabulous book competition
THIS debut crime novel is a gripping, gritty read. DCI Liz Field is tasked with investigating two connected murders – one victim was a famous psychologist and the other his former patient who was part of a groundbreaking study he oversaw 15 years ago. With pressure coming at her from all sides, Field must find the killer before they strike again. . . 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win a copy of this new novel in this week's book competition. To win a copy, enter using the form below by 11:59pm on August 16, 2025. For full terms and conditions, click here.
