Tyrone shooting exposes crown forces collusion
Two Tyrone men, Liam Ryan and Micahel Devlin, were shot dead in a gun
attack which the UVF later said it carried out.
Liam Ryan, a well-known republican in East Tyrone, was the proprietor
of the Battery Bar in Moortown. On Wednesday night, 29 November, he
was about to let four customers, one of whom was Michael Devlin, out
of the bar shortly before midnight when there was a knock at the main
door, which is up the hall from the function door.
As Liam Ryan went to open it, there was a hail of gunfire as two men
burst into the hall. Three of the people near the hall door were hit.
The two gunmen stepped forward and shot Liam Ryan and Michael Devlion
dead at close range while they lay injured. A third man who had been
hit managed to drag himself to the store cupboard.
Liam Ryan was 39 years old and was a prominent local figure. He had
only recently returned to Tyrone after living in North America for ten
years. He had become a US citizen in 1984. He came back to Tyrone in
1987 and bought the Battery Bar on the shores of Lough Neagh. He got
married just over a year ago and his wife Geraldine gave birth to a
son ten weeks ago.
Michael Devlin was a local farmer. He was 33 years old and married
with two young sons aged ten and seven months, respectively.
Phoblacht, Thursday 7 December, 1989
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