Shoot-to-Kill in Belfast (ECN, 3 December 1992)

A young Irish republican was shot dead by police in Belfast on Wednesday 25th November [1992] in what seems to have been a pre-planned shoot-to-kill operation. 22 year old Pearse Jordan was driving along the Falls Road when his car was rammed and forced onto the pavement by two cars. As he stumbled from the car he was shot in the back three times with a Heckler and Koch rifle, by an undercover member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Pearse Jordan, who was an IRA volunteer, was unarmed and had made no attempt to run away when he got out of the car.

As usually happens in such cases, the RUC immediately launched a propaganda offensive to hide the true facts of the killing. For instance it was initially reported that the shooting was connected with the discovery of a bomb-making factory in a nearby house. In fact, the house that was raided was over half a mile way, and nothing was found in the house or at any other building that night.

After Pearse's murder, local people held a candle-lit vigil at the scene. Thousands of people attended Pearse Jordan's funeral, resisting attempts by the RUC to intimidate them. At one point, women mourners prevented an RUC armoured car from driving through the funeral cortege.

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