Maguiresbridge: Two children among three dead in shooting

Two children and a woman have been killed in a shooting in County Fermanagh.

Police said two of the victims were declared dead at the scene in Maguiresbridge on Wednesday morning, a third died later in hospital.

Police confirmed all three died from gunshot wounds and were from the same household.

One adult male remains in hospital.

Supt Robert McGowan told a press conference police have started a murder investigation and are working to determine the circumstances.

He said the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) received a call at 07:50 BST on Wednesday morning and officers from Enniskillen PSNI station when to the scene.

Supt McGowan told reporters he believed the alarm was raised via a phone call made from within the house.

Earlier, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said it received a call at 08:21 BST on Wednesday and sent three vehicles and the air ambulance to the scene.

It added that one patient was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast by air ambulance and another was taken to South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen.

Supt McGowan said it was a “harrowing scene” for officers to attend and a police presence would remain in the area.

He said the police have commenced a murder investigation and are working to determine the circumstances.

He added that no arrests have been made at the minute and “it is not anticipated that they will be made”.

The officer said there is a “limited domestic history” involving the people concerned.

The Drumeer Road outside Maguiresbridge is a quiet rural area.

The road has been closed from early this morning with a stationary police car blocking those approaching.

A large media presence has gathered at the police tape as officers carry out work at the scene.

Democratic Unionist Party assembly member Deborah Erskine urged people not to speculate about the incident, while “police carry out their work”.

“This is truly shocking and has stunned the entire community,” she added.

“The area of Maguiresbridge where this has happened is a rural, quiet area and everyone is deeply affected by what has happened this morning.”

Erskine said the incident has “caused widespread shock, not just in Maguiresbridge, but right across Fermanagh”.

“This is a small rural area, this road is a very rural road, things like this are completely unexpected in this part of the world.

“The foremost in all in all of our thoughts will be with the family and what they have had to deal with today,” Erskine told BBC News NI.

Sinn Féin MP Pat Cullen said her “thoughts are with the victims and their families at this tragic time”.

“The community is heartbroken, as we are, and totally shocked at the news as any community would be.”

Cullen also paid tribute to the paramedics who had to work under a “really tragic set of circumstances”.

“They’re all human beings as well, it’s unimaginable how much this will impact on them,” Cullen told BBC News NI.

Justice Minister Naomi Long said her “thoughts and sympathies are with those affected” following the “horrific incident”.

She also asked people not to “speculate, online or elsewhere, as to the details surrounding it while it is being investigated”.