Journalist Lyra McKee was shot and killed in Derry in 2019.
A gun found by police during searches in Derry last weekend has been identified as the weapon used to murder journalist Lyra McKee.
The PSNI has confirmed that its Major Investigation Team investigating the murder of Lyra McKee have confirmed that the gun found was used in her killing.
One man has been charged with her murder and a second man has been charged with offences relating to the rioting that preceded it.
Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy spoke about this development on Thursday, saying: “I am as clear today as I have ever been that the bringing of that gun onto the streets involved a number of senior figures in the New IRA. Today’s confirmation is a significant step forward and opens up a new avenue of investigation for my team.
“We will be relentless in pursuing opportunities to bring to justice every person who was involved in the chain of events that led to the gunman indiscriminately firing four shots.
“Those shots were fired intentionally towards police Land Rovers, placing many officers at significant risk of death or serious injury.
“The presence of bystanders like Lyra, who were watching the unfolding events, was an inconvenience to the terrorists but the gunman clearly placed no importance on that. Any reasonable assessment must be that for the New IRA, the community were, and continue to be, expendable collateral damage.
“Lyra’s murder was not an accident – it was an inevitable and entirely predictable result of terrorist violence.”
McKee was a 29-year-old journalist who was shot dead while reporting on the riots that broke out in Derry in April of 2019.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
