Omagh shooting: Security alert after solidarity walk for DCI John Caldwall was 'New IRA response to village of Beragh' says MLA

On Saturday morning Beragh Swifts FC held a "walk of solidarity" for their volunteer youth coach John Caldwell. The off duty senior police officer was shot by dissident republicans at a sports complex in Omagh last week after coaching a youth soccer team.A walk of solidarity in his name took place through the village of Beragh on Saturday morning, the area where Mr Caldwell grew up, and where his football team is based.Then at 1pm on Saturday the PSNI announced that the Dervaghroy Road in the village was closed while officers examined a suspicious object.A police helicopter and bomb squad officers attended the scene. Police closed roads with security cordons and the public was advised to avoid the area.A number of airsoft guns - which usually look just like authentic weapons - were discovered.The security alert continued all through Sunday and only ended around 10am on Monday morning.Former Policing Partnership chairman, UUP MLA Tom Elliott, said there was no doubt in his mind that it was a message from the New IRA to the village."I don't think this is a coincidence at all," he said. "It has been planned and premeditated, obviously. I think it's just another tactic of theirs to put pressure on people, to say that this walk of solidarity is not changing our views."That's really all they can do is intimidate and try to bully them. Unfortunately that's the role they're in."He said the sinister response from the New IRA to the cross community walk echoed the actions of the group after it shot journalist Lyra McKee in Londonderry in 2019.A few months after the murder of Ms McKee, Assistant Chief Constable Barbara Gray, the officer in charge of the PSNI anti-terror response, said the New IRA derived “sick and sad” pleasure in the backlash against her shooting, motivating them to intensify their activities in the region.Ms Gray expressed regret that the public outcry following the murder of the 29-year-old did not act as a watershed moment for the dissidents to reconsider their adherence to violence.She claimed the reverse has been true, saying the killing in Londonderry's Creggan area was a factor in a spike in dissident murder bids in the region.Mr Elliott said the security alert in Beragh was straight out of the same playbook."It's just obvious," he said. "They are sending out a message - we're not going to to bow to peer pressure. They believe that only they have the truth."You have a small village where people are working together and they instigate a security alert against them. It is just sick and shameful."

DCI John Caldwell is a high profile officer who has led investigations into both organised crime groups and dissident republicans.

Retired Detective Chief Superintendent Norman Baxter knows him as “a very valued and competent colleague”.

He said: “From an early stage in his career he demonstrated high potential through his natural ability to engage with people, support victims and those affected by crime, and his overwhelming commitment to public service.”