Abduction and shooting
Cemetery attack victim ‘abducted’
The area was cordoned off for scientific examination
A man who was found shot in a County Down graveyard had been abducted from a filling station, police have said.
It is understood up to four men dragged the 26-year-old into Redburn Cemetery in Holywood, where he was wounded in the chest.
The man is critically ill in hospital. A local resident raised the alarm at 0230 BST after hearing a gunshot followed by cries for help.
Police said they were treating the incident as attempted murder.
Superintendent Graham Shields said the victim managed to tell police he had been abducted from a nearby petrol station.
“We were able to speak to him and he was able to tell us that he had been abducted by three or four men from the area of Redburn Filling Station on the Old Holywood Road,” he said.
The man was abducted from a nearby filling station
He added that paramilitary involvement was one line of inquiry being investigated.
The scene is cordoned off as police crime scene officers search the surrounding area.
Detectives have been carrying out door-to-door enquiries on Monday.
Redburn Primary School, which is in the cordoned-off area, was closed for the day.
Morning classes at the nearby North Down and Ards Institute’s Holywood Centre were also cancelled, but evening classes will go ahead as usual.
