A local parish priest in Ballyfermot, Dublin is pleading with the gunman who shot a boy (6) in the neck over the weekend, to hand himself into the gardaí.
Fr Jerry O'Connor's comments come as gardaí continue to question a man in his mid thirties on suspicion of withholding information.
The child was injured when he was shot outside a house in the Croftwood Gardens housing estate in Ballyfermot on Friday night.
He is now in a stable condition in hospital and it is understood doctors are hopeful he will make a full recovery.
Fr. O'Connor - local priest and Chairman of St. Ultan's Primary School in Cherry Orchard - spoke to Newstalk's Breakfast:
Fr O'Connor said Sean is in a stable condition, was conscious for much of the weekend, and has had his family by his side throughout.
He said news of the shooting had startled his very fibre, but insisted Cherry Orchard is generally a good, peaceful place to live.
Today, Fr O'Connor said, there is a level of bewilderment and anger in the neighbourhood.
One local councillor is hoping the weekend's shooting will be a 'watershed moment' in Ireland's battle against gun crime.
Fianna Fáil's Daithí deRoiste says he has written to the Minister for Justice demanding she take action:
