On 14 November 1992, the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...

(UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group, launched an attack on James Murray's bookmakers on the Oldpark Road in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

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 ...

. A gunman fired on the customers with an assault rifle, while another threw a grenade inside. Three civilians were killed and thirteen wounded. The shop was in a

Catholic 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

Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...

area, and all of the victims were local Catholics. The attack was likened to the

Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting On 5 February 1992, there was a mass shooting at the Sean Graham bookmaker's shop on the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group, opened fire on the customer ...

carried out by the UDA earlier that year.

Background

In 1992 there had been an intensification of the paramilitary campaign being carried out by the

(UDA). In February, the UDA South Belfast Brigade had killed five Catholic civilians in

on the Ormeau Road, Belfast.Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack, ''UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror'', Dublin: Penguin Ireland, 2004, p. 222 This was claimed as retaliation for the Teebane bombing by the IRA, which had killed eight

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

men. 'C Company' of the

UDA West Belfast Brigade The UDA West Belfast Brigade is the section of the Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), based in the western quarter of Belfast, in the Greater Shankill area. Initially a battalion, the West Belfast Brigade eme ...

, led by

Johnny Adair John Adair (born 27 October 1963), better known as Johnny Adair or Mad Dog Adair, is an Ulster loyalist and the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). This was a ...

, had been particularly active throughout the year, killing several Catholic civilians. This included young mother Philomena Hanna, who was shot dead at the chemist where she worked on the Springfield Road, and 18-year-old Gerard O'Hara, who was shot dead in front of his mother at his home in the New Lodge. The West Belfast UDA also launched a gun attack on the Dockers club in the Sailortown area of Belfast, wounding three Catholics. Major loss of life was averted because one of the doormen managed to close the door before the gunmen could get further inside the club.McDonald & Cusack, p. 237 On 13 November, an IRA van bomb had exploded in the centre of the mainly-Protestant town of Coleraine, causing extensive damage.

The shooting

In the afternoon of 14 November 1992 two UDA men entered James Murray's bookmakers on the Oldpark Road in a mainly-Catholic area of north Belfast. One gunman, allegedly Stephen McKeag, opened fire on the customers with a vz. 58 assault rifle. Another man, reportedly C Company's second-in-command, threw a Soviet-made fragmentation grenade, shouting "Youse deserve it, youse

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

bastards" as he did so. Two Catholics, Francis Burns (52) and Peter Orderly (47) were killed outright, while John Lovett (72) died of his wounds in hospital the following day. Lovett was a Second World War veteran who had survived torture in a Japanese camp as an RAF prisoner of war, and reportedly shouted "keep your calm" during the attack. Although it was in a Catholic area, some Protestants frequented the betting shop, and one was among the several wounded in the attack. The killers escaped in a hijacked taxi which was found abandoned less than 200 metres away at Beechpark Place. The attack was reportedly followed by "a raucous celebration in a loyalist club in south Belfast with Johnny Adair occupying centre stage".

Aftermath

In March 1993, an IRA unit from

Ardoyne Ardoyne () is a working class and mainly Catholic and Irish republican district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It gained notoriety due to the large number of incidents during The Troubles. Foundation The village of Ardoyne was founded in ...

shot dead UDA member Norman Truesdale in his shop at the junction of the Oldpark Road and Century Street. At the time, his family claimed he had no paramilitary links, but his brother later stated his belief that he was involved in the shooting at James Murray's bookmakers, and a UDA mural was painted in the area in his memory. He was also named by Lister and Jordan as a UDA gunman. IRA efforts to assassinate Johnny Adair intensified after the attack, culminating in the 1993

Shankill Road bombing The Shankill Road bombing was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 23 October 1993 and is one of the most well-known incidents of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The IRA aimed to assassinate the leadership of the loya ...

, when an attempt to wipe out the UDA leadership, including Adair, resulted in the deaths of nine Protestant civilians and one of the IRA bombers.

References

Notes {{Ulster Defence Association 1992 in Northern Ireland 1992 murders in the United Kingdom 1990s in County Antrim 1990s mass shootings in the United Kingdom Conflicts in 1992 Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Mass shootings in Belfast Murder in Belfast November 1992 crimes November 1992 events in the United Kingdom Terrorist incidents in Belfast Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1992 1990s murders in Northern Ireland 1992 crimes in Ireland The Troubles in Belfast Ulster Defence Association actions 1992 mass shootings in Europe

Background

The shooting

Aftermath

See also

References