Greysteel massacre
| Greysteel massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of The Troubles | |
Front of the Rising Sun Bar
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| Location | Rising Sun Bar, Greysteel, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
| Coordinates | 55°01′55″N 7°07′19″W / 55.032°N 7.122°WCoordinates: 55°01′55″N 7°07′19″W / 55.032°N 7.122°W |
| Date | 30 October 1993 |
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Attack type
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mass shooting |
| Weapons | VZ58, shotgun, handguns |
| Deaths | 8 |
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Non-fatal injuries
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13 |
| Perpetrator | Ulster Freedom Fighters/Ulster Defence Association |
The Greysteel massacre was a mass shooting that happened on the evening of 30 October 1993 in Greysteel, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Three members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group, opened fire in a crowded pub during a Halloween party, killing eight civilians and wounding thirteen. The pub was in an Irish Catholic and Irish nationalist area. The group claimed responsibility using their cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters" and said that the attack was revenge for the Shankill Road bombing a week earlier.
On 23 October 1993, a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb prematurely exploded in a fish shop on Shankill Road, west Belfast. Eight Protestant civilians, one UDA member and one of the IRA bombers were killed. The IRA's intended target was a meeting of UDA leaders, including brigadier Johnny Adair, which was to take place above the shop. Unknown to the IRA, the meeting had been rescheduled. Shortly after two IRA members, Thomas Begley and Sean Kelly, entered the shop dressed as deliverymen and carrying the time bomb under a tray, it exploded accidentally, killing Begley along with the nine others inside the shop at the time. This became known as the Shankill Road bombing.
The UDA launched a number of "revenge attacks" for the bombing. Later that day, it shot a Catholic delivery driver after luring him to a bogus call at Vernon Court, Belfast. He died on 25 October. On 26 October, the UDA shot dead another two Catholic civilians and wounded five in an attack on the Council Depot at Kennedy Way, Belfast.
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