Lyra McKee shooting: Police find murder weapon, know killer’s identity

June 11, 2020

Northern Irish police said Thursday they have recovered the gun used to kill journalist Lyra McKee in the city of Derry, or Londonderry, last year. They also said they know the identity of the gunman.

Police say they hope forensic evidence will help them charge the gunman in question.

One man has so far been charged with the murder. The man who fired the shot that killed McKee remains at large, police say.

“I know who was involved. I know who the gunman is. The New IRA should not mistake a sensitive and quietly conducted investigation with one that lacks determination and energy,” Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy said in a statement.

The New IRA is one of a small number of groups that opposes the 1998 Good Friday peace deal that largely brought an end to 30 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, a part of the UK.

Read more: Northern Ireland’s New IRA: What is it?

‘Expect police at the door’

The group said that one of its members shot the 29-year-old reporter dead when they opened fire in the direction of police during a riot McKee was observing.

“As the net gradually tightens, those who fired the gun, transported it, moved it, stored it, carried it, hid it or interacted with it in any way, should expect the police at their door,” Murphy added.

Two women kiss in front of a Lyra McKee mural (picture-alliance/empics/L. McBurney)

Lyra McKee mural in Derry

The gun, a Hämmerli X-esse pistol, was found with a quantity of ammunition and a bomb in a neighborhood near Creggan — the Derry housing estate where McKee was shot in the head.

The New IRA offered “sincere apologies” for McKee’s death at the time.

“In the course of attacking the enemy, Lyra McKee was tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces,” the New IRA had said after the shooting, a reference to McKee standing close to a police riot vehicle at the time, claiming that they had not intended to shoot her. “The IRA offer our full and sincere apologies to the partner, family and friends of Lyra McKee for her death.”

Up-and-coming journalist

At the time of her murder, Northern Ireland’s devolved parliament had been suspended since January 2017 after a breakdown of trust between rival political parties.

The power-sharing assembly in Belfast was created in 1998 after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. McKee’s death led to calls for politicians to agree to restore the legislature.

McKee wrote about growing up gay in Northern Ireland as well as chronicling the experiences of the “cease-fire babies,” the generation raised after the 1998 peace deal.

McKee was an advocate for LGBT rights and was recognized as a rising star in journalism, having landed a spot on Forbes Magazine’s “30 under 30 in media” list in 2016.

“Such a warm and innocent heart, she was the greatest listener, someone who had time for everyone,” her family said in a statement. “She was a smart, strong-minded woman who believed passionately in inclusivity, justice and truth.”

ed/msh (AFP, Reuters)
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Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Threats in broad daylight

Imitation road signs on the Creggan Estate in Derry, Londonderry tell locals in no uncertain terms that they should not cooperate with police in the aftermath of Lyra McKee’s murder. This image of a rat with a gun’s crosshairs trained on it is captioned “Informers will be shot,” and signed “IRA,” in reference to the Irish Republican Army terror group.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Some cleanup efforts, but messages keep coming

Cleanup efforts have already taken place in the area: The white walls of the building opposite have a fresh coat of paint to cover extreme nationalist graffiti. But as quickly as the threats are cleared, new ones appear. Local police have said that it’s not their responsibility to clear away such material, possibly suspecting that their presence for this task could do more harm than good.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Locals leave it alone

In the immediate aftermath of the April riots on Creggan Estate, when Lyra McKee was shot while observing the unrest near a police 4×4 vehicle, messages of solidarity were posted and pro-IRA graffiti was altered to send messages of peace instead. But eventually, ordinary people’s defiance wanes. This sign warns against talking to the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland’s police).

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

More permanent signs of strife

On the same street, just across the road from the mock road signs, the local car wash carries a large poster calling for the release of nationalist or republican prisoners arrested by Northern Irish authorities. Many houses are decorated in similar ways in the area. Irish flags are another common sight.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Cemetery sentry

A short walk away, the picturesque Creggan Parish Church graveyard peers down on the estuary and the city below. Most of the graves belong to ordinary people, but paramilitary monuments to former members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) — an Irish republican paramilitary group formed during Ireland’s “Troubles” — also take pride of place at the burial site.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’

Creggan Estate is just up the hill from the 1972 “Bloody Sunday” (or “Bogside Massacre”) memorial, near Derry’s “Peace Wall” separating the nationalist, largely Catholic population from the loyalist, majority Protestant part of the city. British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians at what began as a protest. Thirteen died outright, another later of his wounds. Seven were 21 or younger.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

‘The trench is dug within our hearts’

The memorial is regularly tended to and visited. Catholic crucifixes are a common sight, with the Irish nationalist cause intertwined with Catholicism.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Walled border city on NI’s northwestern tip

Derry’s name was officially given the prefix “London” in 1613. Its city council failed in a 2007 court bid to rename it Derry on the maps. Now with a majority republican, Catholic population, Northern Ireland’s second-largest city has immense historical significance to both sides. The Battle of Bogside, a 1969 communal riot, is broadly seen as the start of the “Troubles” of the late 20th century.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Derry, Londonderry — a flashpoint for centuries

Free Derry Corner marks the entry to the nationalist, predominantly Catholic part of the city, including Creggan. The entire area is awash with murals, memorials and sometimes less tasteful messages. Derry, Londonderry is now majority nationalist and Catholic. But the 1689 Siege of Derry was also a key event in the revolution that overthrew the last Catholic king of England, James II.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

‘Not In Our Name’

In the immediate aftermath of McKee’s murder, the entry was repainted in her honor. It has since been restored to usual.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Other public resistance

Another photo taken in April, soon after McKee’s death, when locals were unwilling to let terrorist messages stand. A local primary school is nearby.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Authorities working overtime

This vacant building on Bogside near the Peace Wall was the proposed site of an unsanctioned protest. Local kids had piled tires high at this site, planning what they were calling the 2019 Bogside Bonfire. After public pressure, and failed attempts by the nationalist Sinn Fein political party to dissuade the children, authorities cleared out the inflammable material on August 1.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Home security

Barbed wire and sharp anti-climbing spikes on gates are not unusual forms of home security in parts of the city. Businesses tend to be especially well-fortified.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Tourist attraction

Visitors can tour the Free Derry area of the city. Local guides take people on foot, while taxi drivers also offer personal tours. There’s also a Museum of Free Derry. Many of the walls are adorned with murals, such as this one picturing a home raid by the military.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Brexit a la Bogside

One new placard near Free Derry Corner has a distinct Brexit flavor. “Hard Border, Soft Border, No Border, #IrishUnityNow,” it reads. In the background, on the back of a road sign, you can also make out the graffiti “RIRA,” short for “Real Irish Republican Army,” one of the splinter groups (also known as the New IRA) that rejected the IRA’s cease-fire in 1997 ahead of the Good Friday Agreement.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

McKee’s love letter to the city

On the other side of town, near the train station, a bright blue poster carries a quote from Lyra McKee. McKee’s book, Angels with Blue Faces, was published posthumously this past week. It’s the upshot of a five-year investigation by McKee into the IRA’s 1981 murders of Ulster Unionist (or British loyalist) MP Robert Bradford and another man, Kenneth Campbell.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Building bridges

Despite the continued troubles in places like Creggan, or the permanent red-white-and-blue (UK flag colors) bunting on show in loyalist parts of town like Bonds Street, much of Derry, Londonderry has been transformed in recent years. One unmissable feature of this, straddling the estuary on which the city was built, is the Peace Bridge. The plaque also notes that it was funded by the EU.

Northern Ireland: New scars in Derry, Londonderry after journalist’s murder

Peace Flame

Derry’s Peace Flame, near the waterfront and the Peace Bridge, was lit by children from both communities in 2013, ahead of a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. Like much of the city center, it symbolizes the progress made — even in Derry, Londonderry — over the past two decades in Northern Ireland. That said, vandals did target it 2016, while in 2017, a technical fault put out the fire.

Author: Mark Hallam