Irish Olympic hero Paddy Barnes has labelled Lyra McKee's killers as 'w***ers' after she was shot dead on Thursday night.
The 29 year-old journalist was murdered in Derry after rising to prominence for her work about growing up gay in Belfast.
Two-time Olympic bronze medallist Barnes has hit out at the shooters after waking up to the 'terrible' news.
In a post to Twitter, Barnes said: "This is terrible news, knew her from the Cliftonville, killed by w***ers!"
Ms McKee was killed during rioting in the Creggan area of the Northern Ireland city on Thursday and it's believed that dissident republicans are responsible.
The PSNI came under attack from crowds before a number of shots were reportedly fired.
Lyra was wounded and then rushed to hospital in a police land rover but was later pronounced dead.
Authorities believe the shooting was carried out by a "violent dissident republican" and are treating it as a terrorist incident and have launched a murder enquiry.
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