Detectives are investigating the firing of shots over the coffin of west Belfast man Gerard ‘Hucker’ Moyna on Wednesday night.
Video of the shots being fired by masked men over the coffin, draped in the Irish flag, circulated on social media. It was believed filmed outside his home on Bombay Street off the Falls Road.
Moyna (69), who was linked to several murders, was buried in Milltown Cemetery following a funeral service in St Paul’s Church on the Falls Road on Thursday.
In a statement, the PSNI said: “Police are aware of a video circulating online.
“Detectives from the Police Service’s Serious Crime Branch are investigating, and would urge anyone with information to come forward.”
Moyna, known by the nickname Hucker, was linked to various paramilitary groups, the PIRA, the INLA, the IPLO and later with dissident republicans.
He was one of two gunmen who carried out the killing of Lenny Murphy, the leader of Shankill Butchers shot dead in 1982. The father-of-four was also reportedly involved in the 1983 murder of solicitor Edgar Graham, shot dead outside Queen’s University.
Moyna was deeply involved in the short lived IPLO organisation, an offshoot of the INLA involved in the several sectarian murders. The IPLO, which operated in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was riven by disputes before being violently disbanded by the IRA in 1992.
On Halloween night that year, dozens of IRA members were involved in the operation to effectively wipe out the IPLO. One member of the splinter organisation was killed and at least ten injured in a series of attacks.
During his some 18 month involvement with the IPLO, Moyna was reportedly involved in the murder of the one time spokesperson of the group, Jimmy Brown.
The same gun was used in the sectarian murders of shop owner John McMaster, then Harry Ward and William Sargent, both shot dead when the IPLO fired randomly into the Mount Inn pub on North Queen Street in Belfast.
