ARMED gardaí are maintaining a presence at the Dublin hospital where convicted criminal John Gilligan is being treated following an attempt on his life on Saturday night.
Officers are guarding Blanchardstown Hospital amid fears that the former gangland boss could be targeted while recovering in his hospital bed.
Gilligan was shot four times during a christening celebration at his brother’s house in Greenfort Terrace, Clondalkin on Saturday.
He attempted to flee his attacker, but was shot four times at close range.
It is believed a bullet to the leg shattered his tibia, while he was also shot in the chest and hip, while a fourth bullet grazed his head.
Gardai at the scene where John Gilligan was shot in a gangland shooting in West Dublin on SaturdaySources say that he may have sustained lasting damage from the shots to his chest and leg.
Gardaí believe that he may have been followed from his Jessbrook estate, which is located on the nearby Meath/ Kildare border.
Gilliagan was the key suspect in the murder of Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin, but he was acquitted in 2002.
He was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2001 for drug trafficking, but was released last October.
This is not the first attempt made on his life. Last December, a gunman entered the Halfway House pub on the Navan Road in Dublin looking for Gilligan, who was drinking at another pub just 1km away.
