A senior off-duty police officer has been criticized after being shot in Northern Ireland in what politicians condemned as a “shameful” attack by “terrorists” and a reminder of the region’s violent past.
Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell had put the football in his car after a training session at a youth club in Omagh, County Tyrone, on Wednesday night, when two men approached and shot him at point-blank range.
Caldwell’s young son was by his side, Mark McEwan, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, told BBC Radio Ulster.
No one claimed responsibility for the shooting, but McEwan said police believed the New IRA, a dissident republican group, was responsible.
Caldwell ran but fell and the attackers fired more shots at him on the ground before fleeing in the car, McEwan said. The officer was taken to a hospital and remains in critical but stable condition, he said.
The attack comes as London and Brussels seek a deal on Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland that some activists warn could damage the region where the dispute has paralyzed local politics since last May.
It comes just over a month before the 25th anniversary of the peace agreement that ended thirty years of violence in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles, when the IRA fought to end British rule of the region and loyalist paramilitaries fought to remain part of the United Kingdom. .
Children who witnessed the shooting, which happened at about 8 p.m., left the area in tears.
The attack, which shocked local residents, was condemned by all political parties in Northern Ireland, as well as the prime ministers of the UK and Ireland. Omagh was the site of the biggest atrocity of the Troubles, a 1998 bombing that killed 29 people, and the last fatal shooting of a police officer in Northern Ireland, in 2011.
“It’s absolutely disgraceful what’s happening here. It’s unacceptable,” said Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the nationalist Sinn Féin party. His party, the mouthpiece of the IRA during the Troubles, now condemns the violence and won last year’s Northern Ireland election.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist party, said: “These terrorists have nothing to do with it and must be brought to justice.”
Colum Eastwood, leader of the smaller nationalist Social Democrats and Labor parties, called the attack a “horrific reminder of the horrific violence that criminal gangs wish to inflict on the people of Northern Ireland”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “shocked” by the shooting. “My thoughts are with the officers and their families. There is no place in our society for people who seek to undermine public servants who protect our communities.
Naomi Long, the leader of the Alliance party, said it was “an evil act of cowardice”, while Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach of Ireland, condemned “this grotesque act of trying to kill”.
The leaders of the region’s five main political parties – Sinn Féin, the DUP, the Alliance, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP – on Thursday issued a rare joint statement, in which they said they were “united in their immediate condemnation of this attack”.
A year ago, London downgraded the security threat in Northern Ireland to “substantial” from “severe”, the first time it has decreased in twelve years.
Liam Kelly, chairman of the Northern Ireland Police Federation, told the BBC that the attack was “a reminder that . . . policing in Northern Ireland is still a very dangerous occupation”.