THE TAXI DRIVER shot in Drogheda last night has given an interview on LMFM to explain what happened and to refute online speculation that he’s involved in crime.
John Myles was shot while driving his taxi across the Bridge of Peace in Drogheda last night. He left his hospital bed to speak to the Michael Reade Show this morning.
“I don’t want to know who did it, I don’t care who did it,” he told Reade.
A man and a woman were in the taxi when the shooting began; Myles said that the front seat passenger is believed to have been the intended target.
There was only one bullet fired, he said, and it went “straight through the window” and hit him in his back.
He said that the front-seat passenger “got across my body and I still couldn’t get the seatbelt off after getting shot.”
He said both passengers got out of the taxi.
Whether I was dead or alive they didn’t care. I could have bled to death.
Of the violence in Drogheda, Myles said: “They do what they do because they can’t do an honest day’s work. It’s us that has to suffer.”
He said that he wouldn’t be alive if the bullet hadn’t travelled through his back, and criticised people who falsely claimed online that he was involved in the ongoing feud in Drogheda.
Speaking after John’s interview, the Mayor of Drogheda Paul Bell said that what happened last night was “absolutely shocking”, and encouraged people not to believe everything they read on social media.
“I know John Myles, John Myles is not a criminal… He’s trying to support his family and do his best as a citizen.”
He said that there were two things that stood out about last night’s shooting:
“Firstly, it was a [public] area, and secondly, it’s within view of the Garda station. It does show the determination of those involved in the crimes.”
He said that the type of crime involved “is of an organised and subversive nature”.
Gardaí have not confirmed if the passenger was the intended target of the attack.
In July 2018, a feud began between two gangs in Drogheda which has resulted in several shootings and deaths. Despite an increase in Garda resources, the violence has continued. This episode of The Explainer examines this issue:
<p style=”text-align: center;”><a href=”https://www.thejournal.ie/new-podcast-the-explainer-4527541-Mar2019/”>Find a full list of where the podcast is available here.</a></p>
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