A woman has described hearing a teenager cry for help moments after he was seriously injured in a shooting close to her home.

The 17-year-old was shot a number of times in the Coombe area of Dublin shortly before 11pm last night.

He was rushed to St James's Hospital where he is in a serious condition.

This morning, a local woman told Newstalk that she thoughts the shots were fireworks until she went outside and saw the boy covered in blood.

“I heard two or three bangs,” she said. “I thought it was the kids because we always hear fireworks around here but then we heard a car rev off and someone yell, ‘get in the car, get in the car.’

“So, the car drove off then and we heard the boy then start crying for help. Then all the neighbours came out. Literally everyone at the same time.”

"Please, please help"

She said emergency services arrived within minutes and the teenager was conscious right up until they put him in the ambulance.

“He was in an absolute panic, shouting, ‘please, please help’ but everyone was there; he was obviously completely out of it,” she said.

“He was sitting up all along. He only lay down when they made him lie down.”

The Garda Technical Bureau at the scene of a shooting on Eugene Street in Dublin City Centre, 25-02-2021. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

She said he was talking throughout the time paramedics were tending to him.

“The blood was coming from his face and he was awake even when they were taking him away into the ambulance,” she said

“It was over pretty quickly then. They drove off and it was obviously blue lights and Gardaí everywhere.”

"Lots of blood"

She said the boy was sitting in a tai with his legs outside the door when she got outside and there was “lots of blood.”

“There was blood pouring form him but he was sitting up and asking questions about, ‘is it my face, where is it coming from?’

“He was completely stressing out about it; begging for help all along as much as there was help there already.

“He was quite awake he only lay down when they asked him to lay down. He was still wake when they took him into the ambulance.”

The Garda Technical Bureau at the scene of a shooting on Eugene Street in Dublin City Centre, 25-02-2021. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

The woman said she only purchased her home in the area last year and although she “heard it was a little bit rough” she never expected a shooting on her doorstep.

She said the local community rushed to the teenager’s aid as soon as they could and he was taken to hospital very soon afterwards.

Witnesses

The 17-year-old underwent surgery in hospital last night.

The scene at Eugene Street near the Coombe Hospital has been sealed off and a forensic exam will take place in the coming hours.

Gardaí are calling on anyone who noticed anything in the area between 10:30pm and 11pm to come forward.

They are particularly interested in speaking to anyone with dash-cam or mobile phone footage.

Reporting from Stephanie Rohan