THE murder of Kevin Conway on Tuesday brings to 17 the number of men who have been gunned down on the streets of North and West Belfast since 2013.
Kevin's murder is the first since October 2022 when Sean Fox was gunned down in Donegal Celtic Social Club.
His murder brings the number of men killed by gunmen in North and West Belfast to 17 over an 11-year period. To date no-one has been convicted of any of their murders.
The first of those killed in the last 11 years was 26-year-old Kieran McManus who was shot outside Domino’s Pizza on Kennedy Way on 30 March 2013. He was shot twice in the back as he stood by his car in an attack which was believed to have been carried out by the Continuity IRA.
On 9 October that year, 46-year-old Kevin Kearney was found shot dead in a lake in Alexandra Park off the Antrim Road in North Belfast. It was reported at the time that Kearney was known to police and it was alleged that he had dealt in drugs. His murder was claimed by the New IRA who had formed in 2012.
Former member of the Continuity IRA, Tommy Crossan (43) was gunned down at a fuel depot off the Springfield Road on 18 April 2014. No one has claimed responsibility for his killing.
We reported in 2022 about 15 men being murdered without anyone being brought to justice
28-year-old Edward Gibson was fatality wounded in a shooting in an alleyway beside Divis Tower in 24 October 2014. He died in hospital shortly afterwards.
On 6 January 2016, 31-year-old Conor McKee was killed in his parents’ home in Glenpark Street in the Oldpark. At the time of his killing, the North Belfast News reported that reliable sources indicated the New IRA were behind the attack.
On 15 April that year, the New IRA struck again shooting 33-year-old Michael McGibbon in an alleyway off Butler Place in Ardoyne. He died shortly afterwards in the Royal Victoria Hospital. His inquest found that he was shot during a so-called paramilitary style shooting.
55-year-old delivery driver Dan Murray was killed on 9 May 2016 after being lured to Lady Street. The year previously dissident group Action Against Drugs had shot him in the face at his home, but he survived.
Poleglass man Joe Reilly (43) died after he was shot a number of times in the chest at his home in Glenwood Court on 20 October 2016.
Raymond Johnston (28) was shot and killed at his home in Glenbawn Avenue on 13 February 2018. Two men were seen leaving the scene.
Jim ‘JD’ Donegan was killed on 4 December 2018 as he sat in his car outside St Mary’s Grammar School on Glen Road. The gunman made his way on foot into a local housing estate.
Sean Fox was gunned down in October 2022
Dublin criminal Robbie Lawlor was shot dead on 4 April 2020 outside a house on Etna Drive. It has been suggested that he travelled to Belfast in the hours before his death, possibly to collect debt.
57-year-old Kieran Wylie was shot dead in his home on Lenadoon Avenue on 17 May 2020. The PSNI stated that he had been subject to a threat from "a grouping of violent dissident republicans" several years before.
On 27 June 2020, 28-year-old Warren Crossan, son of Tommy Crossan who had been killed six years earlier, was shot and killed in Rodney Parade. The involvement of organised crime groups in his killing has not been ruled out.
Danny McClean (54) was shot dead close to McGrath’s pub on Cliftonville Road on 2 February 2021. He had reported ties to dissident group Óglaigh na hÉireann.
31-year-old Mark Hall was shot and killed at his family home on Rodney Drive on 18 December 2021. CCTV footage released by the PSNI showed two gunmen arriving in the area.
Sean Fox was murdered on 2 October 2022 when he was gunned down in the Donegal Celtic Social Club after two masked men arrived, carried out the murder and left the club in under a minute. They left on foot, along the Suffolk Road, in the direction of Gweedore Gardens.
Kevin Conway becomes the latest man murdered – a total of 17 in just over ten years. No-one has been convicted of any of the previous murders.
