Katie Taylor’s father Pete Taylor has spoken out after being shot in a gun attack.
The boxing coach was shot twice just under a month ago in his Bray boxing club, while his friend Bobby Messett was killed during the attack.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Pete expressed his confusion over the shooting.
The famous father said that if anyone wanted to directly target him, they could have attacked him at his home.
He explained, “Much less risk in shooting me at 4.30am outside my home when I set off for my first personal training session of the day, or at 6.15am when I arrive at the boxing club, which is an isolated area, in the dark.
“Or at night, when I am locking up the club at 9pm. My routine is identical every day,” Pete said.
Pete revealed that the shooter fired eight times, and that he was only hit when he attempted to tackle the gunman.
“The only reason I got caught in the firing line was because I made an attempt to run at him, my natural instinct was to attack back and try to protect my friends,” he added.
The gunman entered the club before 7am on Tuesday, June 5, and opened fire.
Bobby Messett was killed, and Pete Taylor and Ian Britton were left injured.
Pete believes the attack was “an act of intimidation that went wrong”, and denied rumours that the shooting was linked to his supposed association with boxing management company MTK, which is allegedly linked to members of the Kinahan crime family.
Pete has spoken out after his estranged daughter Katie, who he used to coach, released a statement about the shooting.
In the statement, the boxing champ said, “As many of you know, I have been somewhat estranged from my dad for a number of years now. I’ve had little contact with him in the last three years.”
“[I’ve had] no contact or association whatsoever with Bray Boxing Club since 2015. I have been appalled by the misuse of my name and image during the reporting of this incident.
“It has been reckless and irresponsible and a deliberate attempt to inappropriately leverage my name to sell a story. I urge the media to leave me, my mum and other family members out of this story,” she added.
