Gardaí are investigating the possibility that a 17-year-old boy killed in a hit-and-run incident in Co Clare may have been knocked down deliberately.
Bryan Lowe, from Westbury, Corbally, and Clonlara, suffered fatal injuries when he was struck by a vehicle while he was travelling on an e-bike at Cottage Cross, near Clonlara village, at 11pm on Friday.
It is understood that the teenager was dragged under the vehicle for a period before it left the area. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gardaí on Sunday said they were looking to trace the driver or occupants of a silver/gold Skoda Octavia seen driving in the Castleconnell and Clonlara areas between 6pm on Friday and 11am on Saturday.
The car had the registration number 05-C-5982 and is understood to have been recovered partially burned out in the Castleconnell area on Saturday morning.
In a post on Facebook, Bryan Lowe’s mother, Crystal Lowe, said she was “heartbroken and traumatised” that her son had died alone. She said she believed that Bryan was “followed” from the Corbally area to Clonlara before his death.
Bryan Lowe was a pupil at St Munchin’s College in Limerick. The school’s deputy principal, Lorraine Shiels, offered her sympathies to his mother and sisters, Chloe and Jane, and all his schoolfriends.
“Bryan should be looking ahead to his Leaving Certificate, to his future and to all the possibilities that lay before him. Instead, we are coming together to mourn one of our students whose life has been taken far too soon.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Henry Garda station in Limerick on 061-212400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666111 or any Garda station.