Kenneth William Sheehan

Died

:

8 April 1977

Age

:

19

Rank

:

Constable

Force

:

Royal Ulster Constabulary

Cause

:

Homicide - Shot

Duty Status

:

On Duty

Roll of Honour Citation

Fatally shot, alongside a colleague, by terrorists in a car they had stopped while on mobile patrol.

Constable Sheehan and Constable John Thomas McCracken were on mobile patrol on the Moneymore Road at Gortagilly, County Londonderry, accompanied by two other Constables, when they decided to check a suspicious car.

As Constables Sheehan and McCracken approached the vehicle, the occupants opened fire with high velocity weapons at close range, killing both men.

A third Constable, although wounded, returned fire and the terrorists panicked and drove off but got bogged down in a ditch. They then run off into the fields. The Constable who returned fire was later awarded the George Medal.

Kenneth had previously been wounded on 23rd May 1976 while on foot patrol in Chapel Road, Waterside, with Reserve Constable Linda Emmeline Baggley, who was shot and died from her wounds ten days later.