Prison Officer and Orange Order member David Black was killed on 1 November 2012 by members of the

New IRA The New Irish Republican Army, or New IRA, is a paramilitary organisation founded in July 2012. It was formed after the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) and other small Irish republican paramilitary grou ...

. The group claimed the killing 11 days later. He was the first prison officer to be killed by dissident Irish republicans since the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

Attack

Black was driving to work in

Maghaberry Prison HMP Maghaberry was built on the site of RAF Maghaberry, a World War II airfield near Lisburn, Northern Ireland, which was used as a flying station by the Royal Air Force and also as a transit airfield for the United States Army Air Forces. At t ...

when he was shot by members of the

at 7:30 am. He was on the motorway between

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

and

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

, when a car with Dublin registration plates drove up beside him and fired shots at him, and he veered into a ditch.

Reaction

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...

David Cameron: "First and foremost this is a dreadful tragedy for the family and friends of David Black who has been so brutally murdered as he went about his work keeping the people of Northern Ireland safe. My heart goes out to them." *

PSNI The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ga, Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ') is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it was reform ...

Chief Constable Matt Baggott: "It is a completely senseless attack which demonstrates the ruthlessness and recklessness of those opposed to peace and who live for violence." *

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...

Eamon Gilmore Eamonn or Éamon or Eamon may refer to: * Eamonn (given name), an Irish male given name * Eamon (singer) (born 1983), American R&B singer-songwriter and harmonicist * ''Eamon'' (video game), a 1980 computer role-playing game for the Apple II *"Éam ...

: "I know that I speak for every decent man, woman and child on this island, north and south, in expressing revulsion at this act. There will be no return to the dark and violent days of the past. The tragic loss of life that we have seen this morning serves only to bring us together in a shared grief and a shared determination to work together in building a better future for all."

Aftermath

The trial of a man charged with aiding and abetting Black's murder collapsed in 2018. In November 2022, on the tenth anniversary of the murder, Black's widow made a fresh appeal for information on her husband's killers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, David 2012 in Northern Ireland 2012 murders in the United Kingdom Attacks by Republicans since the Good Friday Agreement Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland November 2012 crimes November 2012 events in the United Kingdom Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 2012 2012 crimes in Ireland Deaths by person in Northern Ireland 2010s murders in Northern Ireland