Drug dealer Gary ‘The Canary’ Carey dies weeks after being shot in gangland attack

Gary Carey died in St James’ Hospital at lunchtime today.

Gardai from Kilmainham Station will now launch a murder investigation after the death of the 41-year-old who was discovered in a serious condition in the underground carpark of the Hilton Hotel in Kilmainham by staff before being rushed to hospital on June 24 last.

He was shot in the shoulder, arm, chest and leg by a gunman who had him under surveillance.

There has been no arrests so far in the case.

Carey has been involved in bitter drugs disputes with convicted killer Brian Rattigan who is now based in Spain as well as the west Dublin gang known as ‘The Family.’

It is understood that he was not wearing a bullet proof vest as he usually does after working out in the hotel’s gym and was chased around the carpark by at least one gunman.

Detectives believe that a silver Audi vehicle was used in the shooting and are investigating if the gunman was waiting in it in the underground carpark prior to the shooting.

This car was later found burnt out in Blessington, Co Wicklow.

Carey, originally from nearby Islandbridge, may have been targeted after getting in a dispute with three separate gangs over his drug trafficking distribution network in the capital.

He had been based in Spain for a number of months before returning home in the weeks before he was targeted.

Witnesses reported hearing up to eight shots shortly before 11.30am before Carey was discovered critically injured.

His younger brother Darren Carey (20) was one of two men murdered in the gruesome ‘Canal Murders’ in 2000 carried out by a now deceased criminal who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

It was the third time Gary Carey has been shot at in the last 15 months.

Brian Rattigan link as man fights for life after being shot for third time in 15 months

Last November he was lucky to survive after being shot several times outside a house on Ballyfermot Crescent.

Carey was sitting in a car in the front drive of a house when a gunman fired nine bullets through the front windscreen.

The previous March, gardaí also received reports that he was shot at in Ballyfermot but escaped serious injury.

He only received graze injuries in that attack and drove himself to hospital. He did not make any complaint to gardaí, but detectives believe a criminal aged in his late 20s from Ballyfermot was involved in that attack.

Carey has been questioned a number of times by detectives in relation to seizures of drugs, firearms and cash.

Despite his multiple arrests as part of organised crime investigations, Carey has only served one significant prison sentence when he pleaded guilty to drug dealing at Dublin Circuit Court back in 2002 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

On another occasion, he was charged with assault but the charges were later dropped.