Shots Fired At Sinn Fein MLA Pat Sheehan's Belfast Office

Police are investigating after shots were fired at a Sinn Fein office in west Belfast, with a masked gunman believed to have been caught on CCTV.

The gun attack on Pat Sheehan MLA's office in the Turf Lodge area took place at around 2am on Thursday 03 January, but bullet casings were not discovered outside the premises until the morning of Monday 07.

The west Belfast representative has spoken out to say that he will not be forced to stop serving his constituents in the Upper Springfield area due to intimidation.

It is the second time his office has been shot at in three months.

Police seized the bullet casings for further examination into what they say was a reckless attack in a built-up residential area.

PSNI Detective Sergeant Sam McCallum said: "Someone could easily have been injured, or worse, by a stray bullet.

"Thankfully, we are not looking at any injuries."

Mr Sheehan explained in a statement that staff returned to work this week and found shell casings which prompted them to contact police on Tuesday 08.

"Local people then told us yesterday that they heard what sounded like shots being fired last week. We checked the CCTV footage at the office and confirmed to police that shots had indeed been fired.

"They took CCTV footage of the incident and found a further shell casing. Four shots were fired by a masked gunman at the office."

The Sinn Fein MLA went on to directly address the intimidation efforts shown towards him: "There was a previous attack on 07 October and only weeks later I was told by police of a threat to my life. 

"We have lived through years of attacks on our members and our offices by loyalists and state forces and Sinn Fein will not be intimidated or deterred by those responsible for this latest attack from providing services without prejudice to all the people of these communities."

Police are appealing for anyone who was in the Monagh Crescent area around the time of the incident or who has any information to contact them using non-emergency line 101, quoting reference number 367 08/01/19.

Anyone who may have been travelling in the area at the time is also urged to check their dash-cam footage for anything which may help the investigation.



(JG/CM)