Gardaí said three of the gunmen wore police-style SWAT team uniforms and were armed with AK47 assault rifles, the BBC reports.
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They claim that it was retribution for the killing of Alan Ryan, a former IRA member who was in shot in 2012 in what was described as a “targeted attack” by police.
“This will not be an isolated incident”, he said. “More drug dealers and criminals will be targeted…The Continuity IRA will carry out further military operations”, the statement read in part.
A headliner in Saturday’s boxing bouts was Jamie Kavanagh, whose father – a convicted drug dealer – was shot to death in Spain in 2014.
Contacted by AFP, they declined to comment following the claim of responsibility by the Continuity IRA. “I’ve never felt terror like it”, said the Northern Irishman who works for BBC Radio Foyle.
He said: “There was an incredible noise out there (in the lobby) and that is where I saw a body, a corpse, lying literally at the edge of the reception desk”.
“What happens is that you are given a statement verbally, that you would then write down and pass on. His face was completely distorted, is what I can say about it”.
However, members of IRA splinter groups run their own criminal rackets, have done business with both sides in that deadly feud, and have issued previous threats to retaliate for any attacks on their supporters.
“They were careful in their choice of language”. They don’t have the resources they need and ordinary citizens need protecting.
The two boxing shows which had been due to take place in Dublin were cancelled and Vann flew back to Yorkshire after giving a statement to detectives investigating the incident.
They reportedly believe this may have been retribution for a gangland hit carried out in Spain last September.
There were also reports that Daniel Kinahan, who manages some boxers in the MGM camp, was in the Regency at the time of the attack.
Irish state broadcaster RTÉ said 200 to 300 people were at the weigh-in ahead of the World Boxing Organization European Lightweight title fight between Jamie Kavanagh, from Dublin, and Antonio Jao Bento, from Portugal.
Some journalists and photographers from Irish newspapers were in the grounds of the hotel anticipating figures from Dublin’s criminal underworld would be present.
Footage of the shooting emerged, showing an unknown boxer stepping off a scale just before gunshots erupted, with the man filming the chaotic scene rushing outside with a young girl believed to be his daughter.
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The police have set up armed checkpoints in Dublin, anticipating retaliation for Byrne’s killing.
