One man was killed when gunfire broke out at a boxing weigh-in in Ireland. The incident occurred on February 5 at the Regency Hotel in Dublin. The Irish Times reports that gunmen were armed with AK-47s. There was a crowd of nearly 300 in the room when the shots rang out. The BBC reports that the gunmen were wearing Irish police uniforms. Their reporter, Kevin McAnea, who was in the room, said that he “never felt terror like it.” Meanwhile, the Irish Times, stressing that the report was “unconfirmed,” said that one gunman was dressed as a woman.
Following today’s incident at the Dublin weigh in, tomorrow’s show from the National Stadium has been cancelled.
The attack happened in the build-up to the Jamie Kavanagh v Antonio Jao Bento WBO European Lightweight title fight which was to happen in Dublin on February 6. That match has now been canceled.
We’re responding to a serious incident in a hotel in Whitehall, crews from Finglas, P’boro + advanced paramedics
RTE reports that one person was killed and three others were wounded. The president of Ireland’s Boxing Union told the network that the shooting was not random but that the boxers were not targets. The Irish Times says that police in Ireland are looking into the possibility that the shooting is related to an escalating gang war between at Dublin gang and another Irish gang that’s based in southern Spain.
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Newstalk reports that the dead man is in his 20s and is well-known to police in Dublin due to his criminal activity. Another of the injured men is in grave condition. The Journal reports that one of the victims is Daniel Kinahan. He’s one of the “leading figures of the Irish arm of the Kinahan crime syndicate,” according to the Sunday World.
A feature on the connections between boxing and Irish gangsters by Vice in October 2015 said that police were worried about a shooting at a boxing event. That concern centered around a different fight, which occurred in November 2015.