'We need to get these guns off the streets': Shock as man shot in Newtownards housing estate
The “whole community condemns” the shooting of a man in a Co Down housing estate, local representatives say.
The violent incident in the Bowtown Estate, Newtownards, saw a man driven to patch of land bordered by residential streets Ballyreagh Way and Fairfield Court, where he was shot in the calf.
Aged in his 40s, the victim said around 8pm he’d been collected from the Glen Estate around two miles away by a number of people in a vehicle. As of this afternoon, he was still in hospital.
Area MP Jim Shannon described the attack as “a return to the bad old days”, telling the News Letter: “We need to get these guns off the streets. Anyone with the slightest information must contact the police.”
Councillor Naomi Armstrong-Cotter stated the entire Newtownards community had been left in shock, and “utterly condemned” the shooting.
“No matter what the reason, there is no excuse for anyone taking it upon themselves to commit acts of violence like this,” she said. “The community does not want this.”
Strangford MLA Nick Mathison said there is “no place for this type of violence in our society”, adding: “Paramilitaries offer nothing to the areas they seek to control. I condemn this attack, and hope the victim makes a full and speedy recovery.”
The PSNI has appealed for witnesses, the force’s Detective Sergeant Gray stating: “Everyone has the right to live their life free from the threat of violence. This brutal attack will leave the victim with lasting physical and psychological trauma.”