Bleary Darts Club shooting
Bleary Darts Club shooting | |
---|---|
Part of The Troubles | |
Location | Bleary, County Down, Northern Ireland |
Date | 27 April 1975 22:20 PM |
Target | Irish Catholics, Irish nationalists |
Attack type | Mass shooting |
Deaths | 3 civilians |
Injured | 1 |
Perpetrator | Ulster Volunteer Force |
The Bleary Darts Club shooting was a
Attack
The 'Bleary Darts Club' was frequented mainly by Catholics but was also visited by Protestants.[1] On the night of 27 April 1975, there were about thirty men inside.[2] At about 10:40pm, three masked loyalist gunmen kicked the door open and opened fire on the crowd with a Sterling submachine gun, a Webley Revolver and a shotgun.[2] When the burst of gunfire stopped, a customer switched the lights off so the gunmen could not see. There was then another burst of gunfire, followed by several single shots. Another customer kicked the door shut, and the gunmen left.[2] Three men were killed, all Catholic civilians: father-of eight John Feeney (45), father-of-six Joseph Toman (48), and father-of-four Brendan O'Hara (38). A fourth man, a Protestant, was seriously wounded.[1][2][3][4]
Perpetrators
The attack was claimed by the "
Loyalists Stuart Ashtown and Derek McFarland admitted to the attack in 1980[8] along with a string of other offenses, including the shooting of Catholic civilians Marian Rafferty and Thomas Mitchell.[9]
The shooting is one of many in the area that has been linked to the
See also
- The Troubles in Bleary
- Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions
- Greysteel massacre
- Charlemont pub attacks
- Loughinisland massacre
References
- ^ a b McKittrick, David. Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Random House, 2001. p.537
- ^ a b c d e Cadwallader 2013, p. 95.
- ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1975". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ Cadwallader 2013, p. 13, 95.
- ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- ^ Cadwallader 2013, p. 13, 87-90.
- ^ a b c Report of the Independent International Panel on Alleged Collusion on Sectarian Killings in Northern Ireland. Center for Civil and Human Rights, Notre Dame Law School, 2006. p. 47
- ^ Cadwallader 2013, p. 12, 55.
Sources
- CAIN Web Service: A Chronology of the Conflict - 1975 - 1976 - https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch75.htm https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch76.htm
- Cadwallader, Anne (2013). Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland. Mercier Press. ISBN 978-1-78117-237-7.