Omagh High principal scorns ‘inhumane’ shooters

AS two masked hitmen pointed their guns at an off-duty police officer in Omagh on Wednesday night, they did not allow the fact that children were standing just a few feet away to deter them from pulling the triggers.

Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot multiple times as he made his way back to his car after taking a youth soccer training session at Omagh’s Youth Sport leisure facility last week. As he was gunned down, a number of the young people – including his own son – stood close by.

Many of the teenagers present were pupils of Omagh High School. In the aftermath of the attack, their principal, Christos Gaitatzis, spoke of the impact the event has had on those present, and the wider school community.

“These pupils were literally moving out of the football pitch at the time when the shooting took place,” began Mr Gaitatzis.

“Some of them were actually very close to the person that was shot, because they were helping him with the sports equipment.

“We have three pupils who were one or two metres away from the person that was shot.”

Meanwhile, a number of other pupils were just 10 or 15 metres behind.

“So, really, our pupils were directly threatened from that shooting as well,” the principal continued.

“And this is why, when I was having the school assembly the following morning, I was trying to express to the whole school community, that we, as Omagh High School, have all been attacked – we have all experienced this shock, and we are all in this together.

“If these people had any humanity in them, after realising that carrying out the shooting would mean involving children, they would not have done what they did.

“That heinous attack on John Caldwell involved not just John, but also our children.

“Those people showed no humanity, and they attacked our children.”

Mr Gaitatzis said that those pupils caught up in the attack are being closely attended to, and special measures are being taken to ensure that whole school community overcomes this shared trauma together.