Mystery surrounds shooting of man

Police say they are still investigating the incident that took place at Graham Court after which a man arrived at Lagan Valley Hospital claiming that he was shot in the hand in Moira. He had been getting out of his car at about 7.50pm when masked men approached him and shot him

He was later transferred to the Ulster Hospital for plastic surgery.

A police spokeswoman said his injuries were not thought to be life threatening.

On the evening it happened media social sites were awash with rumours that a policewoman was shot.

However, Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson said that it was wrong to reach a conclusion into the shooting when there were so many unanswered questions.

“There are so many unknown factors in this case and I understand that the police investigation is still ongoing,” he said.

He also said that he understood that the man was not from the area.

Some residents living in the quiet area of Graham Court were also mystified by the shooting.

One woman said that she had been in the house at the time of the shooting and heard nothing.

“This is a quiet area and surely if something happened we would have heard something,” she said. “It was Tuesday evening when most people were still off work and most people were in their homes - no one even heard so much as a commotion.

“There were lots of police here on Tuesday evening claiming that there had been an assault,” she said.

SDLP councillor Pat Catney said, “I strongly condemn this attack, whatever this was about a man’s life was threatened. These masked men came onto our streets to terrorise and set out to kill.

“I would appeal to the local community to send out a clear message to those responsible that they have absolutely no support. This type of vigilante justice is not welcome.

“Whilst the specific circumstances in of the shooting are still unclear. I would encourage anyone with information on this incident to contact the PSNI immediately.”

UKIP Lagan Valley spokesman Brian Higginson condemned the shooting: “These people offer nothing to our community and we don’t want them either,” he said.

Trevor Lunn MLA said: “There is no place on our streets for guns. There can never be any justification for this sort of violence.

“The people who carried out this attack are obviously very callous individuals who have no regard for the consequences of their actions. My thoughts are with the victim. I hope he is able to make a full recovery.

“If anybody has any information about this shooting then I would urge them to contact the police.”

Police say that all lines of inquiry are being investigated and that it they were still very early in the investigation so they are still working to establish a possible motive.