Following the launch a murder investigation yesterday (Thursday) in the typically quiet county Armagh village of Mountnorris, a councillor has assured local residents that police “aren’t looking for anybody else”.
Police were called to an area of homes in the Cusher Green area on Thursday after the alarm was raised shortly before midday.
Commenting, Detective Chief Inspector Gary Robinson said: “Police received a report at approximately 11.30am on Thursday morning, September 4 of a concern for safety at a property in the Cusher Green area.
Related: Murder investigation launched following death of man in Mountnorris
“Officers attended, alongside colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. A man, aged in his 40s, was located deceased at the scene with serious head and facial injuries.
“A 39-year-old man has since been arrested on suspicion of murder, and remains in custody at this time, assisting detectives with their enquiries.”
TUV councillor Keith Ratcliffe spoke with Cool FM news this morning (Friday) to assure the public that following this arrest police, at this time, are not looking for anyone else.
In his interview, the councillor added: “Yesterday there was a deep sense of shock throughout the whole area because obviously residents didn’t know what was going on.
“I was engaging with the police and they were able to confirm to me that unfortunately there was an incident where a man lost his life, there was fatality and also they confirmed to me that one arrest had been made.
“So I would like to assure local residents within the whole community that the police aren’t looking for anybody else.
“An arrest has been made and I think that’s very, very important to make that clear because there was great concern right in the whole Mountnorris community.
“It is a very quiet village here and whenever I was in the estate here actually talking to local residents that was the fear because they obviously didn’t know what was going on.”
The Cusher Green area has a high percentage of elderly residents and sits close to a local primary school and the Councillor added that a helicopter had been circling the area “to find the person that they arrested”.
Passing on his “deepest condolences to the family and friends” Councillor Ratcliffe added, “Nobody wants to hear of this within the area. At the end of the day, unfortunately, a man has lost his life, which is extremely sad… I think it’s very important that we let police carry out their investigation to really get to the bottom of what has happened here.”
The deceased has this morning been named locally as Chrissy Burns, who was aged in his 40s and originally from Warrenpoint.
Tributes have been paid to Mr Burns – with one woman describing him as “a sweet crazy boy” who had “a heart of gold…and I’m devastated to say the least”.
Mr Burns’ death marks the 10th murder in as many weeks in Northern Ireland.
Related: Man found dead in Mountnorris house named locally
Detective Chief Inspector Gary Robinson said on Thursday: “Although our investigation is at an early stage, we are working at pace to establish the circumstances surrounding the man’s death and to determine exactly what happened.”
