Nine year old became first child victim of Troubles when he was shot in Divis area in 1969
A man whose life changed for ever when his brother became the first child victim of the Troubles has told how the trauma “never leaves you”.
Speaking on the anniversary of Patrick Rooney’s death, Con Rooney remembers the flames and the gunfire on the night his brother died like it was yesterday. It was August 15, 1969 when nine-year-old Patrick Rooney, alongside his family of seven, were bundled into their small apartment at the Divis Flats in West Belfast. Outside, riots that had erupted two days beforehand in Derry had spilled over into Belfast. Con Rooney saw it all unfold in front of his eyes.
“We could hear all of the noise and you could see the flames burning outside, like an orange wall, the crackling of the wind and the sparks of the gunfire”, he said.
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“Tensions were high, and at our age we didn’t think anything of it. But then the shooting started. People thought they were blanks, but my dad knew they weren’t because he was in the army. They were flying around.
“My dad went out along with another neighbour. There was a wall about a metre high, and they were crawling below it on their stomachs, hearing the bullets ricocheting everywhere above them.”
As bullets continued to be fired from the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Patrick slumped to the floor inside his own home. His mother, Alice, thought he had fainted, but as she picked him up there was blood coming from the back of his head. He would die later that night, with his family beside him praying.
Patrick would become the first child victim of the Troubles, and was one of four victims that night alongside Hugh McCabe, 20, Samuel McLarnon, 27, and Michael Lynch, 28. Over 250 children died during the troubles from both sides of the conflict, including 23 children aged five and under.
Today (Friday) marks the 55th anniversary of their deaths. In the time passed, Con and the rest of the Rooney family continued on with their lives, with each passing year bookmarked by a day reminding them of their tragedy. Con, now 64, still understandably lives with the trauma of that night, with the memory of it all still fresh in his head.
“If I brought you down to where it happened, the whole area has changed, but to me, I can still see it the way it was. I can tell you what was burning.
“Years ago, you weren’t allowed to talk about it. After the funeral and everything had died down, we went back to the flat and none of us would go to bed for months. We wouldn’t sleep upstairs, we would sleep on mattresses downstairs. We were frightened for our lives to go upstairs. It never went away over the years, it never leaves you.”
Despite that night being over half a century ago, Con still has a strong memory of who his brother Patrick was and the time that he spent with him.
“It was a happy family life. You went to school and you loved getting off for the summer holidays, getting up to the Falls Park on the weekends. We walked everywhere, and used to go up the mountains and spend all day up there.
“We were just like two normal brothers, fighting and making up again. He was very smart, and he wanted to be a priest. I always say that if this hadn’t happened, he would have gone into the priesthood.”
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