The Bleary Darts Club shooting was a

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 200 ...

that took place on 27 April 1975 in the village of

Bleary Bleary (likely ) is a small village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is near the County Armagh border and the settlements of Craigavon, Lurgan and Portadown. In the 2011 Census its population was counted as part of Craigavon. ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Members of the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaig ...

(UVF) burst into a

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

club frequented by

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and opened fire on the crowd, killing three civilians and wounding a fourth. The attack is one of many that has been linked to the

Glenanne gang The Glenanne gang or Glenanne group was a secret informal alliance of Ulster loyalists who carried out shooting and bombing attacks against Catholics and Irish nationalists in the 1970s, during the Troubles.

Attack

The 'Bleary Darts Club' was frequented mainly by Catholics but was also visited by Protestants.McKittrick, David. ''Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Random House, 2001. p.537 On the night of 27 April 1975, there were about thirty men inside. At about 10:40pm, three masked

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

gunmen kicked the door open and opened fire on the crowd with a

Sterling submachine gun The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun (SMG). It was tested with the British Army in 1944–1945 as a replacement for the Sten but it did not start to replace it until 1953. A successful and reliable design, it remained as stan ...

, a

Webley Revolver The Webley Revolver (also known as the Webley Top-Break Revolver or Webley Self-Extracting Revolver) was, in various designations, a standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, and countries of the British Empire an ...

and a shotgun. When the burst of gunfire stopped, a customer switched the lights off so the gunmen could not see. There was then another burst of gunfire, followed by several single shots. Another customer kicked the door shut, and the gunmen left. Three men were killed, all Catholic civilians: father-of eight John Feeney (45), father-of-six Joseph Toman (48), and father-of-four Brendan O'Hara (38). A fourth man, a Protestant, was seriously wounded.

Perpetrators

The attack was claimed by the "

Protestant Action Force The name Protestant Action Force (PAF) was used by Ulster loyalism, loyalists, especially members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), to claim responsibility for a number of paramilitary attacks during the Troubles. It was first used in this ...

", a cover name used by the

(UVF), an

Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a uni ...

paramilitary group. It is believed the attackers were part of the

UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurg ...

. Six days before the attack at Bleary, the group had claimed responsibility for killing three Catholic civilians—two brothers and their pregnant sister—in a booby-trap bomb attack at a house near Granville, County Tyrone. Loyalists Stuart Ashtown and Derek McFarland admitted to the attack in 1980Report of the Independent International Panel on Alleged Collusion on Sectarian Killings in Northern Ireland
Center for Civil and Human Rights,

Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 1 ...

, 2006. p. 47 along with a string of other offenses, including the shooting of Catholic civilians Marian Rafferty and Thomas Mitchell. The shooting is one of many in the area that has been linked to the

; a group of loyalists that included police officers from the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

(RUC) and soldiers from the

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

(UDR). The sub-machine gun was used in the

Miami Showband massacre The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband massacre) was an attack on 31 July 1975 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Irelan ...

, which was carried out by members of the group three months later. Circumstantial evidence links

Robin Jackson Robert John Jackson (27 September 1948 – 30 May 1998), also known as The Jackal, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary and part-time soldier. He was a senior officer in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) during the period of violen ...

to the attack. Among other evidence, a witness saw him in a car near the club the Sunday before the attack, and saw the same car near the club again, about half an hour before the attack.

References

Sources

*CAIN Web Service: A Chronology of the Conflict - 1975 - 1976 - https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch75.htm https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch76.htm * {{Ulster Volunteer Force The Troubles in County Down 1975 crimes in the United Kingdom 1975 in Northern Ireland Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1975 1970s murders in Northern Ireland 1975 crimes in Ireland Mass murder in 1975 Terrorist incidents in County Down Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force actions April 1975 events in the United Kingdom 1975 mass shootings in Europe Attacks on bars in Northern Ireland 1970s mass shootings in the United Kingdom

Attack

Perpetrators

See also

References

Sources