The location where Veronica Guerin was killed

This is the location where Irish crime journalist Veronica Guerin was murdered.

It is situated on the Naas Road in Clondalkin, Dublin.

Target

At the time of her death, the 37-year-old was a crime reporter for the Sunday Independent.

Many of her articles focused on prominent Irish gangland figures, such as Martin Cahill, John Traynor, and Gerry "The Monk" Hutch.

This was not the first time Guerin had been targeted. In January 1995, a gunman arrived at her home in Cloghran and shot her in the leg. The previous year, two bullets were fired at her house. Despite these attempts to intimidate her, Guerin continued reporting on organized crime.

In September 1995, she approached suspected drug dealer John Gilligan to question him about his lavish lifestyle. Despite lacking an official source of income, he owned several properties, including an equestrian center.

When Guerin approached Gilligan, he assaulted her and left her with swelling over her left eye. The following day, he called her at work and threatened to kidnap her son if she wrote about him in the newspaper.

At the time of her murder, Guerin was pressing assault charges against Gilligan. This posed a significant problem for the Ballyfermot-based gangster. A prison sentence would isolate him from his suppliers and threaten his position as one of the country's leading cannabis importers. Consequently, the gang reasoned that they needed to kill Guerin to prevent the case from proceeding.

Shooting

At 12:30 p.m. on June 26, 1996, Guerin left Naas District Court after appearing on a speeding charge and drove 20 kilometers along the N7 Naas Road toward Dublin.

Shortly before 1 p.m., Guerin stopped her red Opel Calibra at the traffic lights near the junction of Naas Road and Boot Road.

As Guerin waited at the traffic lights, two men on a white Kawasaki 950cc motorcycle pulled up beside her driver's door. The passenger retrieved a .357 Magnum revolver from inside his jacket and opened fire.

When the attack occurred, the journalist was speaking on the phone. Her last words were, "I did very well. Ah, fined a maximum of 150 quid. Alt..." Suddenly, the sound of a loud crack interrupted the call.

Guerin was shot six times and died almost instantly.

Following the shooting, the driver shouted, "That's it!" before speeding off toward Newlands Cross. The gunmen then turned right onto Belgard Road and drove in the direction of Tallaght.

The murder occurred just two days before she was scheduled to speak at a Freedom Forum conference in London regarding journalists at risk.

Aftermath

The crime sparked public outrage, with Taoiseach John Bruton condemning it as "an attack against democracy." The murder was so audacious that many Irish people still remember exactly where they were when they heard the news.

The investigation into the killing was one of the largest in Irish history. The Gardaí (Irish police) made hundreds of arrests, and the government established the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB). This new agency was granted special powers to track down and seize assets acquired through organized crime. The bureau subsequently seized more than €6 million worth of property.

In 1999, one of Gilligan's men, Brian Meehan, was convicted of murdering Guerin. Although two men were on the motorcycle, only Meehan was ever convicted of the crime.

Gilligan had travelled to England one day before shooting. However, he was extradited to Ireland in February 2000 and later sentenced to 28 years in prison for importing cannabis.

The sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal.

Gilligan's release

In October 2013, Gilligan was released after serving 17 years.

On March 1, 2014, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at his brother's home in Greenfort Crescent, Clondalkin. Authorities believe the Kinahan Organised Crime Group ordered the hit after the newly released gangster attempted to re-enter the drug trade.

Fifteen days after the shooting, a lone gunman killed Gilligan's bodyguard, Stephen Douglas "Dougie" Moran, at his home in Clondalkin.

Following his discharge from the hospital, Gilligan left Ireland.

Memorial

Initially, plans were made to name the bridge at Newlands Cross after Veronica Guerin.

However, the proposal led to political squabbling among councilors in South Dublin County Council. The plan was dropped in 2015 after the journalist's brother, Jimmy Guerin, stated that the family did not want the flyover named after her if the idea was going to become a "political football."