A man in his 60s has been shot dead and another wounded at an Irish Traveller wedding in County Fermanagh on Wednesday.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed that the man died from his wounds after the shooting outside St Mary’s Catholic church in the border village of Newtownbutler at about 1pm on Wednesday.
Earlier reports from locals said one man sustained a gunshot wound to his arm while another suffered more serious injuries.
The PSNI used one of its helicopters in the border region to airlift the more seriously wounded man to a hospital in nearby Enniskillen.
Local PSNI commander DCI Michael Harvey said: “The victim was shot along with another man outside a chapel on Main Street in Newtownbutler at around 1pm this afternoon.
“He was flown to hospital in a police helicopter but died from his injuries. The other man, who is in his thirties, is not believed to have sustained any life-threatening injuries.”
Newtownbutler Sinn Féin councillor Thomas O’Reilly said he understood the shooting took place at a wedding attended by members of the Traveller community at St Mary’s church, which is beside a local primary school.
O’Reilly, whose advice centre/office overlooks the church grounds, said: “In a very small rural area and village such as Newtownbutler, it is shocking that something like this would happen.
“I certainly would hope that those who have been injured make a full recovery. Obviously this was very traumatic for guests and people at the wedding and those who have been caught up in the incident.”
The Ulster Unionist assemblyman for the border region, Tom Elliott, condemned whoever was responsible for the shooting. “It is horrific that a gun attack should take place anywhere, but when it happens in the grounds of a church and at a wedding it is even more sinister. There seems to an element of people today for whom nothing is sacred,” he said.
