Three men were acquitted of murder Friday in the killing of Belfast journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot by a member of a dissident Irish Republican Army splinter group while covering a 2019 riot in Northern Ireland. Justice Patricia Smyth issued not guilty verdicts after a non-jury trial at Belfast Crown Court that was held intermittently over the past two years.
Mckee, 29, was shot on April 18, 2019, while standing near law enforcement officers who were observing an anti-police riot in Londonderry, also known as Derry. Protesters had thrown firebombs at police and set a car ablaze before four shots were fired, one of which struck McKee.
The New IRA, a small paramilitary group that opposes Northern Ireland’s peace process, claimed responsibility, stating that its members accidentally shot the reporter while aiming at police.
McKee was known for her writing on the challenges faced by the generation born after the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, which ended three decades of sectarian violence. She was emerging as a prominent voice chronicling the lasting impact of paramilitary violence by Irish nationalists. Her death prompted widespread mourning, with the prime ministers of Britain and Ireland and leaders from Northern Ireland’s political communities attending her funeral. The event also contributed to the revival of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government, which had collapsed in 2017.
No one was charged with firing the fatal shot. However, Paul McIntyre, 58, Peter Cavanagh, 37, and Jordan Gareth Devine, 25, were charged with murder as accomplices for allegedly encouraging or assisting the shooter. Defense lawyers argued that the circumstantial evidence presented was not sufficient for a conviction.