Lyra McKee and partner Sara Canning. Lyra had plans to propose to Sara and marry her in Donegal
The senior detective was putting footballs into the back of his car after coaching a youth team in a sports facility on the Killyclougher Road on Wednesday, February 22, when two gunmen came out of the shadows and shot him multiple times in front of his young son.
Detectives claim the attack was a joint enterprise with New IRA gunmen carrying out the shooting assisted by loyalist criminals who provided weapons and targeting information.
The New IRA had also admitted responsibility with a typed statement stuck on a wall in Derry’s Creggan area.
Lyra McKee, a 29-year-old journalist and author, died after being struck by a bullet to the head fired by a teenage New IRA gunman as she observed rioting in Creggan on April 18, 2019.
DCI Caldwell, one of the North’s most high-profile detectives, had been one of many officers involved in investigating Ms McKee’s death.
Her partner Sara Canning told UTV Live on Friday that the attempt on his life is “absolutely horrifying”.
She said to hear that someone had been “shot because of the job that they do is just horrific”.
“No job should be a death sentence.”
She described DCI Caldwell as “a very quiet man”, adding: “He’s got a strong presence about him, very calming; he seems very forensic in his job, which is exactly what you want when someone is investigating the murder of your loved one”.
Ms Canning also noted it is still shocking to hear that such paramilitary crimes are still being carried out.
“30 years ago you would expect that. I remember growing up, hearing about people being shot and you would have heard it so much more often.
“We’re 25 years almost, post-Good Friday Agreement. This should be in the past.
“I was so glad to hear that John survived,” she added.
“He’s in a critical condition, but he’s stable, and that is fantastic news. I know he is a very strong man, and he has so much support, but I mean his family is going to have to deal with that for years to come.
“It’s a wound that runs deep.”
Ms McKee was planning to get engaged to Sara Canning during a planned trip to Donegal before she was brutally murdered.
A number of men are due at Belfast Crown Court next Friday, March 10, to be arraigned on charges of murdering Ms McKee and rioting.
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