Images of suspects shooting a sleeping 61-year-old woman released by police

Source: PoliceServiceNI / YouTube

THE NORTHERN IRELAND POLICE has released CCTV footage of the alleged gunmen involved in the shooting of a 61-year-old woman at her home.

Shortly before midnight on October 5, ten shots were fired at the front of a property on Bushmills Road in Coleraine, striking the woman inside the home.

The PSNI said the grandmother was sleeping in a chair downstairs due to her various health problems when one of the many bullets fired at the house by a gang of three men shot her in the head.

The woman was taken to hospital where she is now making good progress, however police are treating the incident as an attempted murder.

“I have said previously that I believe the attack was carried out by members of the North Antrim UDA and that two different types of weapons were used,” said Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell.

“I know that one of the weapons has been used several times to injure other members of this community in recent months and needs to be removed from the clutches of these dangerous individuals.”

CCTV footage shows two of the suspects walking down a lane behind the house after the shooting. They are both wearing hats and police believe the man on the left side of the screen is carrying the shotgun used in the attack.

The third suspect is believed to appear in the second part of the footage showing a man running down the lane with a gun.

“In my opinion, this pistol has been used multiple times to harm other members of this community over the last few months and needs to be removed to prevent further attacks,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell appealed to the Coleraine community to “help us get these violent criminals and this weapon off their streets by bringing whatever information they have to the police or Crimestoppers, which is completely anonymous.”