School shooting: Woman saved son, ran for her life. "It could have been carnage"

Q Radio News and PA

A seven-year-old boy who saw a gunman shoot a man dead outside a Belfast school has been left traumatised, his mother said.

Police are searching for the lone gunman who shot the man, named locally as Jim Donegan, as he was sitting in his luxury Porsche car.

Mr Donegan, who was aged in his 40s, was targeted in the gangland-style attack in front of scores of terrified children.

A gunman wearing a high-visibility vest with the word security emblazoned on the back left the scene on foot, detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.

The mother of a seven-year-old boy who saw the gunman told Q Radio News that her son is now anxious about returning to school.

The incident happened outside St Mary's Grammar School in west Belfast at around 3.15pm when scores of children were departing.

The school is closed and pupils will be offered counselling.

The grounds of @STMARYSCBGS lie empty this morning following the murder of Jim Donegan who was shot dead on the Glen Road yesterday. He was gunned down in his car as he was picking his son up from the school. The acting principal says staff had to shield the car from pupils. pic.twitter.com/jzqGpLXKjZ

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) December 5, 2018

There are a number of schools in the area.

Chief Superintendent Jonathan Roberts said children could have been killed during what he termed "an absolutely disgraceful and reckless act".

The mother of the seven-year-old told Q Radio News that she fled with her son after seeing the gunman.

"I heard about six or seven gun shots and then I heard someone screaming, my son saw it, he was able to tell me he saw a man up ahead with a hi-vis vest on, and his hood up and carrying a bag," she said.

"He was still standing there at the time so I just turned with him (her son) and ran up the street.

"It was very scary, more so for him (her son), he is still freaking out about if he is still going to be there tomorrow, he has been asking me, will they all be away when he is going to school?"

She added: "It's not a place to do anything like that, it's not right any time, but right outside three/four schools on that road. It's just disgraceful."

The woman was taking her seven-year-old son home from school on the Glen Road when the shots rang out.

Police say a man in his 40s waiting in a car for his son outside St Mary's Grammar was shot dead by a lone gunman in a hi-vis vest.

The PSNI says it's too early to comment on a motive, but murder squad detectives have not ruled out the possibility of dissident IRA involvement.

The mother says it was chaos at the scene with terrified families running for cover....

West Belfast school murder - @PoliceServiceNI Chief Superintendent Jonathan Roberts - “children could have been killed, dissidents might be behind it” pic.twitter.com/or20bXH35j

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) December 4, 2018

Acting principal of St Mary's, Fiona Crookes, had to shield the scene from pupils. Coats were held in front of the car before paramedics arrived.

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