February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
Nine months after Donegal native Martin McConigley was gunned down outside his construction business in Philadelphia, homicide detectives are working with immigration officials to check whether witnesses or the suspected killers may have fled the country.
McConigley, from Fanad, was shot multiple times inside his car as he chased after the two gunmen along a West Philadelphia street in October last year.
Detectives involved in the case have contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service to determine whether anyone involved in or with knowledge of the shooting has escaped to Jamaica, one investigator said. Detectives are also still hunting in other U.S. cities, the investigator said.
Last year, McConigley’s business partner, Sean Clinton, had been waiting for him at their office when the two robbers held him up at gunpoint in the early afternoon. Police said the suspects locked Clinton in a garage and made off with a briefcase containing the company’s payroll.
McConigley arrived just as the two suspects were fleeing from the premises. He was fatally shot through the windscreen of his vehicle as he chased the men. McConigley left behind a wife and a young child.
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Philadelphia police have yet to make any arrests in the case, but they said they have definite leads in the homicide case. Investigators believe the robbers may have been watching the business before striking to take the payroll.
Shocked by the crime, the city’s Irish community has offered a reward of $20,000 for information leading to the capture of McConigley’s killers.