Officers urge dissidents to step away from violence after Lyra McKee shot in Derry riots

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Police in Northern Ireland have issued a call for peace in memory of the journalist Lyra McKee, who died after being shot during rioting in Derry on Thursday night.

Evoking the 29-year-old’s own words about the power of conversation, police encouraged relatives of dissident republicans, who have been blamed for shooting McKee, to urge their family members to step away from violence and pursue peace.

The heartfelt appeal followed a rare joint statement from leaders across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland condemning the murder as “an attack on the peace and democratic processes” on the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.

At a vigil in Derry on Friday, McKee’s partner, Sara Canning, said the shooting had deprived her of the woman she had thought she was “planning to grow old with”, adding: “Lyra’s death must not be in vain.”

Peter A Smith (@PeterAdamSmith) Lyra McKee’s partner, Sara Canning, speaks to the vigil in Derry/Londonderry. pic.twitter.com/oaMOUnDXg4

Police confirmed they were looking for multiple suspects in connection with the killing of McKee, who died after being shot during a night of clashes in which petrol bombs were thrown and vehicles hijacked. McKee made her name writing about growing up gay in Belfast, and published investigative pieces with BuzzFeed and the Atlantic.

Witnesses said a masked gunman fired in the direction of police while journalists and members of the public stood nearby. Police called it a terrorist incident and said they had launched a murder investigation.

The Belfast-born investigative reporter has been praised as a person of courage and integrity. The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said McKee “changed lives as she lived and will do so again in death”, while the head of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Michelle Stanistreet, said she was “a journalist of courage, style and integrity”.

McKee was rushed to hospital in the back of a police Land Rover after the shooting but died of her injuries. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it believed the New IRA was behind the attack.

Saoradh, a fringe political party that reflects New IRA thinking, said blame for the events of Thursday evening lay “squarely at the feet of the British crown forces”. It added: “A republican volunteer attempted to defend people from the PSNI/RUC [Royal Ulster Constabulary]. Tragically a young journalist covering the events, Lyra McKee, was killed accidentally.”

In a joint statement, the leaders of all Northern Ireland’s major political parties condemned the murder “in the strongest terms possible” and added: “Lyra’s murder was also an attack on all the people of this community, an attack on the peace and democratic processes.

“We are united in rejecting those responsible for this heinous crime.”

Q&A What is the New IRA? Show Hide The New IRA is the biggest of the dissident republican groups operating in Northern Ireland. It has been linked with four murders, including the shooting of journalist Lyra McKee in Derry in April 2019. The group is believed to have formed between 2011 and 2012 after the merger of a number of smaller groups, including the Real IRA, which was behind the 1998 Omagh bombing. Its presence is strongest in Derry, north and west Belfast, Lurgan in County Armagh, and pockets of Tyrone, including Strabane. In January 2019 the group was responsible for a car bomb outside the courthouse in Derry. The explosives-laden car was left on Bishop Street on a Saturday night, and scores of people, including a group of teenagers, had walked past before it detonated. The New IRA also claimed responsibility for a number of package bombs posted to targets in London and Glasgow in March 2019.

Theresa May called the killing “shocking and truly senseless”, adding: “She was a journalist who died doing her job with great courage.”

Varadkar said: “We cannot allow those who want to propagate violence, fear and hate to drag us back to the past.”

Trouble flared when police entered the Creggan estate, traditionally a republican stronghold, at around 9pm to search for guns and explosives which they said were being stored for planned attacks over the Easter weekend, when republicans mark the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.

A crowd gathered and police said up to 50 petrol bombs were thrown. Two vehicles were hijacked and set on fire. By 11pm about 100 people, including journalists, had gathered on the streets when shots were fired.

Play Video 2:18 Petrol bombs thrown at police in Derry as journalist killed - video

Leona O’Neill, a Derry-based journalist, tweeted she was standing beside McKee when McKee fell beside a police Land Rover. “I called an ambulance for her but police put her in the back of their vehicle and rushed her to hospital where she died. Just 29 years old. Sick to my stomach tonight.”

Mobile phone footage obtained by RTÉ News suggested there were at least two gunshots. The footage also showed two masked men appearing to pick up empty bullet casings. A male voice can be heard saying: “They’ve shot somebody.”

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A resident, Emmet Doyle, said in a Facebook post that children were among those gathered in Fanad Drive when the shooting happened. Doyle said: “A masked figure stopped at the bottom of the road and fired shots up towards the Land Rovers. We all turned and ran, I stopped beside the Land Rover nearer the top of the street and a girl beside me dropped to the ground.”

The leader of the Democratic Unionist party, Arlene Foster, tweeted: “Heartbreaking news. A senseless act. A family has been torn apart.”

Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, condemned the killing as a senseless loss of life, blaming “so-called dissidents” who opposed the peace process.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lyra McKee, speaking at the TEDxStormont Women event in 2017. Photograph: Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye

The Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, said: “Those responsible for last night’s violence have nothing to offer anyone in Northern Ireland. Their intolerable actions are rejected by the overwhelming majority of people.”

The US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who visited Stormont on Friday to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, paid tribute to McKee. “Sadly, we join you, on the sadness, the tragedy that happened last night. We extend our condolences to the family. Coming on Good Friday it is especially poignant,” she said.

Séamus Dooley, the Irish secretary of the NUJ, praised McKee’s bravery and integrity.

One of those who paid tribute to McKee at a vigil for her at Belfast City Hall on Friday evening was the Booker prize winner Anna Burns.

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McKee rose to prominence after publishing a blogpost in 2014 called Letter to My 14-Year-Old Self in which she wrote about growing up gay in Belfast. It was turned into a short film.

In 2016 Forbes magazine named her one of the “30 under 30 in media”, citing her passion for digging into topics that others did not care about.

McKee went on to write a book, Angels With Blue Faces, and also wrote for various publications, usually long, investigative pieces. She recently signed a two-book deal with Faber & Faber.

Her last tweet on Thursday, read: “Derry tonight. Absolute madness.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A screengrab of McKee’s final tweet. Photograph: PA

The New IRA has been active in Derry, Northern Ireland’s second city. It detonated a large car bomb outside the courthouse in January.

The group emerged in 2012 via a merger of several groups opposed to the peace process, including the Real IRA. It has been linked to the murder of two prison officers and several other attacks.