Six men, ranging in age from 20 to 54, have today been arrested in Derry in connection to the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Derry in April 2019.
“Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee on 18 April 2019 in Derry / Londonderry have arrested five men," the Derry City and Strabane branch of the PSNI confirmed today.
“The men, a 20-year-old, two 21-year-olds, a 41 and 54-year-old, were arrested in the Cityside of Derry / Londonderry this morning (15 March 2022) under the Terrorism Act and have been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Musgrave Police Station in Belfast where they will be interviewed."
Five men arrested by detectives investigating the murder of Lyra McKee pic.twitter.com/KR9NHlK4Da
— Police Derry City and Strabane (@PSNIDCSDistrict) March 15, 2022
About six hours later, PSNI confirmed that another arrest had been made: “Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee on 18 April 2019 in Derry / Londonderry have made a further arrest today (15 March 2022).
“The 26-year-old man, arrested under the Terrorism Act, has been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Musgrave Police Station in Belfast where he will be interviewed.
“Five other men (aged 20, 41, 54, and two 21-year-olds) who were arrested this morning remain in police custody at this time.”
Detectives investigating the murder of Lyra McKee have made a further arrest pic.twitter.com/OX7IvnTeFH
— Police Derry City and Strabane (@PSNIDCSDistrict) March 15, 2022
On April 18, 2019, Lyra McKee, a journalist, was shot and killed while observing rioting in the Creggan area of Derry in Northern Ireland. She was 29.
A few days later, on April 23, the Irish News published a statement from the New IRA which said: “On Thursday night following an incursion on the Creggan by heavily armed British crown forces which provoked rioting, the IRA deployed our volunteers to engage.
“We have instructed our volunteers to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy, and put in place measures to help ensure this.
“In the course of attacking the enemy, Lyra McKee was tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces.
“The IRA offer our full and sincere apologies to the partner, family, and friends of Lyra McKee for her death.”
On what would have been McKee’s 30th birthday, and just days before the second anniversary of her death, McKee’s family launched the “Justice 4 Lyra” campaign encouraging people to come forward with any information about the events that led to her death.
Today, the campaign said on Twitter that they are still seeking justice for Lyra:
As we are coming up to Easter, the 3rd anniversary of Lyra’s murder. please remember that we still seek Justice for Lyra. pic.twitter.com/ZtSDr3tEfM
— Justice4Lyra (@Justice4Lyra) March 15, 2022
The Irish Times today reports that three men have previously been charged with McKee’s murder, and another five have been charged with rioting and associated offenses.
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