2009 Massereene Barracks Shooting

2009 Massereene Barracks Shooting

On 7 March 2009, two off-duty British soldiers of 38 Engineer Regiment were shot dead outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim town, Northern Ireland. Two other soldiers and two civilian delivery men were also shot and wounded during the attack. An Irish republican paramilitary group, the Real IRA, claimed responsibility.

The shootings were the first British military fatalities in Northern Ireland since February 1997. Two days later the Continuity IRA shot dead a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer; the first Northern Irish police officer to be killed by paramilitaries since 1998. There followed a miscarriage of justice when cystic fibrosis sufferer Brian Shivers was convicted of the murders and jailed for life, only to later have his conviction quashed after time in prison.