Barney McDonald was shot by two gunmen on April 17 2002 after receiving a bogus call to a snooker club in Annaghbeg Park North in the village to pick up a fare. As he arrived at the club at approximately 10.50pm, he reversed his silver coloured Toyota Avensis car, with his taxi sign light up on top, into the drive way of the snooker club, he blew the horn and waited. That’s when the gun men approached him and shot him at point blank range, through the front and side windows of his car. He died instantly. In a statement the McDonald family said: “Barney was a father, grandfather and brother. His absence from our lives is as immense today as it was 19 years ago when he was so brutally taken from us.” It continues: “Nineteen years on and we are no closer to the truth about this heinous murder. "At the time of Barney’s murder, there were people who said this was a sectarian killing. Well, we would like to dispel this rumour. This was not a sectarian murder. "This was a murder committed by someone who, after the killing, was stood down by the army council of the Provisional IRA. He led a gang of gangsters and thugs in Dungannon and the surrounding areas. This gang is still involved in criminality and other sordid deeds.” The family statement added: “It’s never too late to do the right thing and tell us anything you may know about this abhorrent crime, to get justice for Barney and let our family’s grief finally be put to rest.” -- Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.