By Luke Kelly
The Massereene Barracks shooting was carried out by a group called the real I.R.A., which resulted in the deaths of two off-duty British soldiers. Two other soldiers were also wounded, along with two Domino’s employees who were delivering pizza to the Barracks at the time of the shooting. After the two masked men had initially fired from a car in a drive by style, they proceeded to walk over to two soldiers lying wounded on the ground and fire continuously from close range. In total over 60 shots were fired. The soldiers were supposed to be transported to Afghanistan the next day to fight the war on terror in the Middle East, but instead were gunned down in Northern Ireland by a local terrorist group. The shootings marked the first British fatalities in Northern Ireland since 1997, one year before the Good Friday Agreement. The attack shocked the public and offered a troublesome reminder that violence was still a part of Northern Irish society. The killings were condemned by all mainstream Northern Irish political parties, including Sinn Fein. Gerry Adams denounced the shooting and reaffirmed his commitment to peace saying that dissident Irish Republican groups had “no support, and no strategy to achieve a United Ireland… and Irish Republicans and democrats have a duty to oppose this and defend the peace process.” Shortly after the shooting a man named Brian Shivers was arrested and convicted of murder, however he was found not guilty after appealing the verdict 4 years later. Marian Price, sister of Dolours Price, was also charged with connection to the shooting and received a sentence of 12 months in jail. The PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) have confirmed that the case still remains open.
References:
Keefe, Patrick Radden. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. Doubleday, 2019, pp. 310.
“Man Cleared of Murdering Two Soldiers at Massereene Barracks.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, May 3, 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/03/massereene-shootings-man-cleared.
A Reader's Guide to Say Nothing 