LVF attempt to kill taxi driver
A CRAIGAVON TAXI DRIVER Jim McKerr had a lucky escape when
loyalist gunmen attempted to kill him in Parkmore, a loyalist
area in Craigavon. The Loyalist Volunteer Force, claiming
responsibility for the attempted murder, warned nationalists to
stay out of loyalist areas.
According to McKerr, who drives for a local firm whose drivers
are all Catholic, he went to Parkmore to pick up a fare when he
noticed a man approaching his car from behind.
The driver saw the man was brandishing a gun and tried to drive
away but before he could do anything the gunman pulled his door
open.
``I tried to close the door and couldn't so I pushed it open and
hit the gunman who stumbled back. I then got the car into
reverse, but before I could get away the gunman smashed the
window and put the gun to my head, but I managed to drive off.
Then the second man threw a petrol bomb at the car. It hit the
windscreen and fell to the ground but the second petrol bomb
ignited at the back of the car and I thought the car was on
fire,'' reported a shaken McKerr who has been prescribed nerve
tablets by his doctor.
The driver went straight to the RUC at Craigavon and reported the
incident and in a follow up operation the RUC sent 6 RUC members
in two cars into the estate.
Martin Byrne, a cousin of McKerr, was found shot dead in his taxi
near Lurgan in 1990. The PAF killed him and also killed another
cousin of McKerr's, Eileen Duffy who was shot dead with two
others when the loyalists attacked a mobile shop in Craigavon.
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