Innocent motorist was shot in the mouth in Clondalkin attack

This is the innocent motorist who lost six teeth after being shot in the mouth while sitting in the front seat of his car.

Andy O’Brien ran from house to house seeking help after being hit by a bullet while parked on Cherrywood Grove, Clondalkin, Dublin, at 5pm on Friday.

Gardai are continuing to hunt for the gunman behind the shooting, but sources said innocent Mr O’Brien was not known to gardai and investigators are still trying to establish a motive.

One of the lines of inquiry is that he may have been the victim of mistaken identity.

But a source stressed investigators are “keeping an open mind”.

A neighbour who came to the 28-year-old’s aid said: “It was about 5pm and my wife was in the front room when she saw him out the front and she said there was someone at the door bleeding.

“When I went out he was lying on the ground and the blood was pumping from his face.

“There was kind of a hole just above the corner of his mouth.

“You almost couldn’t see it because of all the blood.

“We rang an ambulance and the ambulance people said to go out and put a towel over the wound and keep it pressed to his face.

“He was conscious and he could still talk.

“He was able to tell me his name and his age and his address.

“He just said he heard a bang and that he thought he’d been shot.

“He had been parked up the top of the road facing the park. That’s when it happened.”

The man’s wife said she believed Andy had been going from house to house seeking help when he saw her in the front room.

“When he came down here he was looking for help,” the woman said.

“He’d probably knocked on other doors first but at 5pm in the evening, people just wouldn’t be home.

“We’d two cars in the drive, so that’s why I think he came here.

“I saw him passing the window, and he must have seen me, because he came straight in then and it was ‘Bang, bang, bang, help, help, help!’

“And when I opened the door he said: ‘Get an ambulance, I think I’ve been shot.’

“I was afraid to bring him in case [he] was being chased.

“But I think he was in shock because, at first, when I asked him what happened he said he didn’t know, and only after he said about the bang and that he thought he’d been shot.

“He was very well dressed.

“It could have been mistaken identity – we just don’t know.”

The woman’s husband said he then went out to Andy: “I sat him up and put a jacket around him and kept the pressure on his face until the ambulance came.

“He never lost consciousness, but he was shivering.

“He was on the ground and I had him propped against my knees and I was holding the towel on the wound to stop the blood.

“When the ambulance came, one of them asked him what happened and he said: ‘Somebody shot me’.

“He was able to say that by then.

“He’d lost a lot of blood and some of his teeth were found at the end of the road – six of them.”

After Mr O’Brien was taken away by ambulance, the scene of the shooting was preserved and a technical examination was undertaken by investigating officers.

No arrests have been made.

Another neighbour said the area of Corkagh Park – opposite where Andy was shot – had been blighted by anti-social behaviour in recent months.

“I’ve been living here 32 years and we’ve never had anything like before,” he said.

“But over the past year or so there is a lot of drug dealing going on in there.

“About 10 months ago I saw a lad punch the head off a young fella in there. He must have hit him 10 times.

“The problem for ordinary people is they park up here when they’re going in there to play sport.

“And now someone’s after getting shot sitting in his car – something will have to be done now.”

In a statement, gardai said: “Investigating gardai are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forward.”

They appealed to anyone who was in the Cherrywood Grove area of Clondalkin and the surrounding area between 5pm and 5.30pm, and anyone who may have been in Corkagh Park at the time and who may have information to come forward.

Road users with camera footage have also been asked to make it available to investigating gardai.

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