The 1992 Sinn Féin Headquarters shooting, also known as the Sevastopol Street shooting, was a mass shooting committed by an off-duty RUC officer on 4 February 1992, at Sinn Féin'sFalls Road office on Sevastopol Street in Belfast.[1]
Background
Some time prior to the shooting, James Allen Moore (24), a Constable in the anti-terrorist the Divisional Mobile Support Unit (DMSU) of the RUC,[2] had visited the grave of an RUC colleague in Comber, County Down.[1][3][4] While there, he fired shots over the grave with a shotgun, before he was disarmed by other RUC members and taken to Newtownards RUC barracks, where he appeared agitated and aggressively intoxicated.[1][4][5] When his blood alcohol levels were tested they were found to be over two and a half times the legal limit. The station doctor later said that he appeared to be suffering from an unusual degree of grief and depression, but that he had not detected anything that indicated psychiatric illness.[4]
While in the barracks, Moore called a colleague in Armagh, where was previously stationed, and talked about shooting republican suspects, however despite warning to another office present from his superior officer, Moore was allowed to leave Newtownards RUC station with his shotgun.[1][4][5] Moore then went to stay with a colleague for the night, but failed to show up for a RUC medical examination the next morning, prompting a search for him out of concern for himself and others.[4]
Shooting
While off-duty, Moore entered Sinn Féin's Falls Road office on Sevastopol Street at around 1.15 p.m. He then opened fire on the workers and civilians inside using his shotgun which was concealed in a suit carrier.[1][4][6] He shot five people, killing Patrick ‘Pat’ McBride (40), Michael O'Dwyer (24), and Patrick ‘Paddy’ Loughran (61) and seriously injuring Patrick ‘Pat’ Wilson (28) and Norah ‘Kate’ Larkin.[7]
While Moore attempted to leave, a stalwart from the neighbouring Green Cross Art Shop, Marguerite Gallagher, attempted to prevent him from leaving, holding on to him until Moore got to his car where Moore pushed her off of him.[8]
At around 1.30 p.m. people trying to give aid to the wounded were assaulted by responding officers, resulting in a pregnant woman being punched in her stomach with a rifle butt.[1]
After making a phone call to the RUC from a pub in North Belfast to claim responsibility,[2] Moore drove around 15 miles to Ballinderry on the shore of Lough Neagh, where he would commit suicide.[1][9]
Legacy
In 2002, a memorial plaque was erected at the office by Sinn Féin to commemorate the victims of the shooting.[10][9]
On the 25th anniversary of the shooting in 2017, then Sinn Féin presidentGerry Adams criticized the British government, saying "The attack on the Falls Road Sinn Fein office, like other similar attacks, were part of British government counterinsurgency strategies aimed at suppressing dissent to British rule."[11] He also criticised the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, who opposed legacy inquests citing national security risks.[12]
