DISSIDENT gunmen pointed weapons at terrified children before fleeing the scene of the gun attack on tough cop John Caldwell.
The highly-respected detective is still fighting for his life after he was repeatedly shot by the “cowardly” pair in front of his son.
The wounded Chief Inspector Caldwell is understood to have called on nearby children to get away from the scene before collapsing.
The detective, who has helped cage dissidents, was singled out as he was hit at his car in the grounds of Omagh’s packed Youth Sports Centre.
After running and falling due to his wounds, the two black-clad New IRA members pumped more rounds into him, striking two vehicles.
Two New York cops stabbed during celebrations in Times Square
Before dashing off, the pair turned their weapons on terrified nearby children as they ran for cover.
The shooters raced to a car and sped several miles east of the town before torching the car.
Recent New IRA recruits are believed to have carried out Wednesday’s callous bid to kill the hugely-respected cop.
Mr Caldwell was at Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital following life-saving surgery.
Hours after the 8pm outrage at the Killyclogher Road centre, officers swooped on a number of addresses in the town and further out in Coalisland, Co Tyrone.
The trio, aged 38, 45 and 47, are being questioned at Belfast’s Musgrave PSNI Station.
The swift arrests came as Gardai colleagues rapidly stepped up border patrols to monitor traffic as part of the investigation.
The scene of the attack is just minutes from where PSNI Constable Ronan Kerr was murdered in a dissident car bomb attack 12 years ago.
DCI Caldwell had himself headed up the investigation.
SURPRISE ATTACK
His most recent high-profile case was the killing of Armagh woman Natalie McNally.
At least nine killed after New Year's Day stampede at shopping centre
The PSNI said the New IRA, which has been recruiting in recent years, is its “primary focus” in the investigation.
Mr Caldwell, 48, had just finished coaching his son’s U-15 football team when the gunmen approached.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan said the pair, both armed,“fired multiple shots and John ran a short distance and, as he fell to the ground, gunmen continued to fire shots at him.
“At this time there were many other children. Those children ran for cover in sheer terror.”
He added: “John’s own young son was with him at the time and witnessed the shooting. The trauma inflicted on this young boy is just horrific and he will never forget seeing his dad shot multiple times.”
WITNESS APPEAL
Cops are urging anyone who saw the gunmen flee the scene to get in touch.
ACC McEwan said: “We believe the gunmen fled the scene in a small, dark-coloured vehicle shortly after 8pm.
“We believe this vehicle was abandoned and set on fire in Racolpa Road, Omagh.
“We want to hear from anyone who was in the area or who witnessed what happened to get in touch with any information that could help with our investigation.”
He added: “The gunmen fired from close range in the busy sports training area, which could also quite easily have killed or seriously injured children who were present at the time of the shooting.”
ACC McEwan praised a member of the public who administered first aid.
LEADERS SPEAK OUT
He said PSNI officers were shocked and angered by the brazen attack, and it had sent a “huge shockwave” across the organisation.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak branded it the “disgraceful shooting of an off-duty police officer in Omagh”.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar condemned the “grotesque act of attempted murder”.
President Michael D Higgins said it was “something that will be condemned by all those who believe in democracy and the peace that we all need to sustain.”
Justice Minister Simon Harris said the shooting was the work of “animals” and confirmed Gardai were in “very close and active” contact with the PSNI.
And joint statement from Northern Ireland party leaders Michelle O’Neill, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Naomi Long, Doug Beattie and Colum Eastwood called the terrorists “the enemies of our peace”.
'UTTERLY SHOCKED'
It said: “Together we stand with John’s family and his colleagues in the police service at this time.”
Chief Constable Simon Byrne said his colleagues were “utterly shocked and angered” by the “brazen and calculated attack.”
He said Mr Caldwell has been a cop in Northern Ireland for 26 years, and is “a father, husband and colleague, and a valued and active member of his local community.”
He added: “John is held in the highest esteem within our organisation. He is a credit to his family and to the police service.”
“This has sent a huge shockwave across the organisation.”
Some of the witnesses were pupils of Omagh High School.
HEINOUS VIOLENCE
Principal Christos Gaitatzis said: “We really need to get together as a community in order to make sure that these types of instances, that contain violence in the most heinous way I can describe, have to be pushed away from our community."
Founded in 2012, the New IRA, which has recruits in parts of Tyrone as well as Dublin and Derry, killed journalist Lyra McKee in 2019.
In November it tried to kill two police officers in a bomb attack in Strabane.
The timing for this latest attack, as knife edge talks around restoring Stormont continue, may have been chosen to cause maximum disruption.
And the dissident shooting has left many sickened given it took place in the town that, in 1998, saw the single worst Troubles atrocity which killed 29 people.
That was carried out by the Real IRA, a forerunner of the New IRA.
CALDWELL'S EFFORTS
One year ago the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland had been lowered from severe to substantial for the first time in 12 years.
In 2021 DCI Caldwell had made an appeal for information on the 10th anniversary of the murder of Ronan Kerr.
He said: “His job was to protect the community.
“Despicably, people living in his own community planned and plotted to kill him simply because he was a police officer bravely going out every day to protect people and make communities safer places to live and work.”
In December he was front and centre in the investigation following the murder of expectant mother Natalie McNally, 32.
She was 15 weeks pregnant, was stabbed at her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
Earlier that month he took on the case of Mark Lovell, a 58-year-old shot dead in Newry.
In 2019, following the sentencing of dissident bomber Sean McVeigh, 38, from Lurgan, for attempting to kill a police officer, DCI Caldwell said the police targets “protect their community and keep people safe despite the ever present threat posed by dissident republicans.”
Backers of the New IRA, with several dozen members on both sides of the border, has been monitored by MI5 and other agencies.
