The Castlerock killings took place on 25 March 1993 in the village of Castlerock,

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Members of the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...

(UDA), a

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

paramilitary group, shot dead three

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

civilians and a

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

(IRA) member as they arrived for work in a van. Another was wounded. The "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF) claimed it had targeted an IRA member and his "accomplices". A UDA member was later imprisoned for his part in the attack and in the

Greysteel massacre The Greysteel massacreCrawford, Colin. ''Inside the UDA''. Pluto Press, 2003. p. 193 was a mass shooting that took place on the evening of 30 October 1993 in Greysteel, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Members of the Ulster Defence Assoc ...

several months later, but was released in 2000 under the terms of the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

Shooting

The five men were builders and had been renovating houses in the Gortree Park

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...

for some months. As they parked their van on Freehall Road, another van pulled up alongside it. Two gunmen, wearing black balaclavas and combat jackets, got out and opened fire on the workers with handguns. One stood in front of the workers' van and shot through the windscreen. One of the workers fell out of the passenger door and the gunman continued to shoot at him. The other gunman opened the side door and fired on the workers in the back. Witnesses stated that one of the gunmen was firing two handguns at the same time. Those killed were Catholic civilians James McKenna (52), Gerard Dalrymple (58) and Noel O'Kane (20), and Provisional IRA member James Kelly (25). The only survivor, Gerard McEldowney (36), had climbed over the front seat into the back of the van when the shooting started, but was shot in the thigh. He wedged himself between two metal toolboxes, shielding him from further gunfire. The gunmen drove off toward Castlerock before doing a U-turn and passing their victims again. Witnesses said the driver leaned out the window and shouted "Up the UFF!" as he drove past. The van used by the gunmen was found burnt out two miles from the attack.

Aftermath

The UDA claimed responsibility for the attack using the cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF). They stated they had "executed" IRA member James Kelly and his "accomplices". The IRA later confirmed that Kelly was one of its members, but none of the other victims had any paramilitary links.

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

councillor Patsy Groogan said the men were regularly stopped and harassed by the security forces and that he had "no doubt that this behaviour played a part in targeting these men for assassination". Later in the day, the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian and wounded another at Dairy Farm Shopping Centre in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. The weapons were later used by the same gang in carrying out the Halloween

at the Rising Sun pub on 31 October 1993. It has been claimed that one of the gang was an

informer An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

and protected by

RUC Special Branch RUC Special Branch was the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and was heavily involved in the British state effort during the Troubles, especially against the Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republica ...

Torrens Knight use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , nationality = , organization = Ulster Defence Association , movement = Nort ...

received eight life sentences for the Greysteel massacre, together with four more for the Castlerock killings. He served seven years in the

Maze Prison HM Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as the Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 ...

, until 2000, before paramilitary prisoners were granted a general release under the

Belfast Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castlerock killings, 1993 Mass murder in 1993 1993 crimes in the United Kingdom 1993 in Northern Ireland The Troubles in County Londonderry Ulster Defence Association actions Terrorist incidents in Northern Ireland Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1993 1990s murders in Northern Ireland 1993 crimes in Ireland Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland March 1993 in the United Kingdom 1990s in County Londonderry 1990s mass shootings in the United Kingdom Terrorist incidents in Ireland in the 1990s

Shooting

Aftermath

See also

References