Greysteel victims remembered 25 years on

Eight people were killed and nineteen injured after UDA gunmen opened fire. Credit: UTV

  • Gareth Wilkinson reports:

Families whose loved ones were killed and injured in the Greysteel massacre will mark the 25th anniversary of the attack.

Eight people were killed after UDA gunmen opened fire in the crowded Rising Sun bar on the eve of Halloween in 1993.

One of the gunmen shouted "trick or treat" before opening fire.

Nineteen people were left wounded after the atrocity.

Of those killed, six were Catholic and two were Protestant.

Prayers will be said on Tuesday night during a church service followed by a vigil outside the bar.

Haunting memories for first paramedic

The first paramedic to arrive at the scene has described the haunting nightmares he continues to face 25 years later.

Adrian McCauley and his colleague had just returned to base in his ambulance when they got the call about a shooting at the Rising Sun bar, nine miles outside Londonderry.

Attending shootings was not unusual for ambulance staff, but within moments of arriving at the quiet village bar, both knew this attack was different.

"When we got to the Rising Sun we could see about 20 or 30 people waving their arms in the air. They were clearly upset, frantic, shouting," said Mr McCauley.

Adrian McAuley was the first paramedic on the scene at the Greysteel massacre in 1993 and received an MBE in May this year for services to First Aid and Healthcare in Northern Ireland. Credit: PA

The scene that he came upon will live with Mr McCauley for the rest of his life.

"Everywhere we could see people that had clearly been shot, they were lying on the floor, slumped on the chairs, lying across tables and as I scanned the room it seemed like they were everywhere.

Mr McCauley said the scene wasn't like anything he expected it to be.

Gun smoke 'burning into our eyes'

"The smell of gun smoke is something I have never forgotten, you could almost taste it. It was burning into our eyes.

"I remember all the people who were in the bar, they were crying, annoyed, angry and fearful. It was a whole range of emotions.

"You don't have time to be emotional, you go into autopilot and do the job you're trained to do," said Mr McCauley.

He then counted the number of injured people and reported it back to his ambulance base.

Then a man told him there were more injured in the front bar.

"I couldn't believe it," he added.

Treating the injured

Mr McCauley spent the rest of the night taking injured people to Altnagelvin hospital for treatment.

"By the time we were finished, we were mentally and physically shattered. We didn't get time to process what happened," said McCauley.

Flowers left outside the Rising Sun bar following the Greysteel massacre in 1993. Credit: UTV

Lasting impact

Mr McCauley, who also attended the scene of the IRA bomb at Coshquin checkpoint in 1990 and the Omagh bomb in 1998, spoke about the lasting impact of the Greysteel shootings.

"I've spent many years driving past the Rising Sun bar and I am consciously not wanting to look at it. Now I can, but for many years I couldn't," he said.

Mr McCauley said that the struggles he faced after the shooting "pale into insignificance" to those of survivors and people who have lost family members.

"If I allow all those things to come to the fore of my brain, I may not function quite as well as I'd like to.

"It's all about balance and being respectful and acknowledging that it did happen and the small part I played in it, but it's about the families."