"The Panda" Crime Boss Bites The Dust. Good Riddance.

AK47 used on The Panda, say gardai

By Michael Lavery

Wednesday September 21 2011

GUNMEN used an AK47 assault rifle to shoot notorious gangster ‘The Panda’ in Dublin, gardai believe.
Michael ‘Micka’ Kelly was gunned down in a hail of bullets in Marrsfield, Clongriffin, last Thursday afternoon.
He was hit up to six times by bullets from a rifle and handgun – and reports today said one of the gunman used a Kalashnikov, the rifle favoured by IRA dissidents, to kill him.
The Russian-designed assault rifle is the most widely used in the world, carried by everyone from Osama bin Laden to Mexican drug gangs.
The gun can be bought for as little as €300 in eastern Europe, according to Europol, the European police organisation.
Gardai have seized a number of the weapons over the past few months and last year recovered two of the deadly 7.62mm automatic weapons, which fire at a rate of 600 rounds per minutes, in counties Wicklow and Kildare.
The rifle’s 30 shot magazine can be emptied in just a couple of seconds when fired on full automatic.
Two gunmen lay in wait for the gangster nicknamed ‘The Panda’ at his girlfriend’s home.
He was first hit by shots |from a car then his killers jumped out and fired more bullets into him before driving over his body.
His heartbroken family are still waiting for his body to be released.
Last Thursday’s execution is considered the most significant gangland murder in Ireland since Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne was shot dead last year.
mlavery@herald.ie