Dublin boxing shooting: Victim named as local man David Byrne

The victim that was shot and killed at a boxing weigh-in in Dublin yesterday, 5 February, has been named as 32 year-old David Byrne – a resident of Raleigh Square in Crumlin in the south of the city. Two other men, who have yet to be named, were seriously injured in the attack at the Dublin Regency Hotel, with local news sources suggesting one had been shot in the chest.

Police confirmed that four gunmen were involved in the attack with two dressed in SWAT team-style uniforms and armed with what is thought to have been AK-47 assault rifles, another was dressed as a woman, and another was wearing a beige cap. The four escaped in a van that was later found burned out on the Charlemont estate in Ireland's capital city.

The shooting took took place during a weigh-in for a World Boxing Organization (WBO) title fight between Jamie Kavanagh and Antonio Joao Bento and police have appealed for witnesses. Pay-per-view channel Box Nation was due to broadcast the fight as one of the main draws of the Clash of the Clans that was due to take place at Dublin's National Stadium. The event has since been cancelled.

The shooting happened at 2.30pm at the hotel, on the Swords Road. Video taken of the incident showed spectators and participants scrambling for safety during the ensuing chaos. The Garda, paramedics and the Dublin Fire Brigade all attended the scene.

The promoter of the fight night was MGM Marbella, a stable of boxers run by Matt Macklin. One of Macklin's friends is Daniel Kinahan, an alleged member of the Kinahan crime syndicate. It was outside his Spanish villa that retired boxer Jamie Moore was shot in 2014.

Mel Christle, president of the Boxing Union of Ireland who was at the scene of the weigh-in, told the Associated Press there was "no doubt" the shootings were not indiscriminate.