Ryle, a known bank robber and drug dealer, was shot five times in the head, neck and upper body

DEATH of a man from injuries he sustained in a gangland shooting at the weekend is being linked by gardaí to a feud between two rival factions that has cost three lives in recent months.

Robert Ryle, a 30-year-old from Blackditch Rd, Ballyfermot, west Dublin, died in hospital yesterday morning after being ambushed in a gun attack on Sunday night.

It was the 20th gun murder of the year.

Ryle, a known bank robber and drug dealer, was shot five times in the head, neck and upper body on Foxdene Ave, Clondalkin, shortly before 8.40pm on Sunday.

He had been driven to the area by a female friend but when he stepped from his car to walk up the driveway into a house he was confronted by a masked gunman, who opened fire.

Ryle was taken to Tallaght hospital where he underwent surgery. He died in hospital early yesterday.

Gardaí believe the gunman may have been targeting an associate of Ryle’s but when Ryle, rather than the target, appeared outside the house, they shot him instead.

A Garda search on Monday morning yielded a handgun that gardaí believe was used by the killer. The gunman is believed to have dropped the weapon when the woman who was with Ryle drove her car into the attacker when she realised what was happening. However, the killer managed to escape and gardaí believe he was driven from the area by an accomplice.

The dead man was a member of a major organised crime gang based in the Clondalkin and Ballyfermot areas.

The gang split into two rival groups last year following rows over the proceeds of drug dealing and a number of robberies where ATMs were pulled from walls using stolen heavy plant machinery.

Two of the leaders of one of the factions were murdered by the rival group on June 28th last.

Brothers Kenneth (32) and Paul Corbally (35) from Ballyfermot were shot dead when a car they were sitting in on Neilstown Rd, Clondalkin, was riddled with bullets. Ryle was an associate of the Corbally brothers and gardaí believe he was killed by the same gangland faction behind the Corballys’ double murder. The man believed to have ordered all three killings has been known to gardaí in Dublin for well over a decade.

Based in Ballyfermot, he is one of the biggest drug dealers in west Dublin. Gardaí believe they know the identity of the gunman who attacked Ryle on Sunday night but fear he may have already left the country.

Ryle was known to travel around the country with associates to locations where they believed they could rob banks with lax security or take whole ATMs from walls.

He was caught robbing banks in Limerick and Cork when he was still in his early 20s.

Gardaí have renewed their appeal for the public’s assistance in their efforts to solve his murder. The investigating team at Ronanstown Garda station want to speak to anyone who may have been in the Foxdene and Balgaddy areas between 7pm and 9pm on Sunday.

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