DUBLIN (Reuters) – Northern Irish police said on Thursday that they had recovered the gun used to kill journalist Lyra McKee in Londonderry last year and hoped forensic evidence would help them charge the gunman whose identity they say they know.
One man has so far been charged with the murder that sparked outrage in the British region where a 1998 peace deal mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence that cost some 3,600 lives. Police say the man who fired the shot which killed McKee remains at large.
The New IRA, one of a small number of groups that oppose the peace accord, said one of its members shot the 29-year-old reporter dead when they opened fire in the direction of police during a riot McKee was watching.
“I know who was involved. I know who the gunman is. The New IRA should not mistake a sensitive and quietly conducted investigation with one that lacks determination and energy,” Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy said in a statement.
“As the net gradually tightens, those who fired the gun, transported it, moved it, stored it, carried it, hid it or interacted with it in any way, should expect the police at their door.”
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Toby Chopra)
