The victims, one in his 30s with links to organised crime and the other in his late teens and believed to be from eastern Europe, were shot in a house on a quiet estate in Kilcock, Co Kildare, last night. The men were gunned down when two men burst into the home and opened fire. Gardaí believe the attackers used a shotgun and a handgun in the attack which seriously injured two other men, in their 20s and 30s, one of whom is also foreign. The incident occurred at about 10pm when all four men were in the house in the Rochford housing estate. Garda sources said the dead man had gangland links and was known to detectives for involvement in organised crime in the Kildare area. He is believed to be originally from Tallaght, south Dublin, and had lived in Maynooth, Co Kildare, for a while before moving to Kilcock. Gardaí are investigating whether the murders are linked to a shooting in which a 25-year-old man was injured in Brayton Park, Kilcock, last December. The teenager – the second to be shot dead this year – from eastern Europe has not been identified. Several neighbours in the Rochford Avenue area said they heard nothing around the time of the attack. One young father, who did not wish to be identified, said Gardaí had called to the scene of the killing a number of times in the past. He believed one of the victims had been living at the house – the middle of a small terrace of three in the quiet estate near the local GAA club – for two or three years. “It’s madness,” he said. “I have young children and they play on the green in front of that house.” The man, on his way to work, said he hadn’t seen or heard anything last night until the emergency services arrived. A house directly behind the scene also remained sealed off this morning, while crime scene tape cordoned off a large section of the housing estate. There was no obvious sign of a break-in at the front of the house in which the shooting occurred, outside which was parked a black BMW car. Crime scene investigators dressed in white overalls entered the house equipped with a camera. The dead men were taken by ambulance to Connolly Hospital in Dublin, where they were pronounced dead late last night. The injured men were taken to the Tallaght and Mater hospitals where they are being treated. Gardaí said they are investigating all of the circumstances surrounding the incident. “The scene has been preserved pending a full technical examination,” a garda spokesman said. “No arrests have been made at this stage and inquiries are ongoing.” Gardaí have appealed for witnesses.

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