Vigil for Slain Journalist Lyra McKee Held Outside Belfast City Hall

Crowds gathered at Belfast City Hall on Friday, April 19, to pay tribute to Lyra McKee, the 29-year-old journalist fatally shot during riots in the Northern Irish city of Derry overnight.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said they were treating the killing as a “terrorist act” and had opened a murder inquiry.

Lord Mayor of Belfast Deirdre Hargey opened a book of condolence at Belfast City Hall. President of the Republic of Ireland Michael D Higgins was among those who signed it.

Vigils were also held at the scene of the shooting in the Creggan area of Derry and at St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. McKee’s partner Sara Canning and leaders from both sides of Northern Ireland’s political divide spoke at the vigil in Derry.

McKee, who was gay, delivered a TED talk at Stormont in Belfast in November 2017, in which she argued that changes in religious teaching were necessary for the development of LGBT rights. At the time of her death, she was working on a book about children and young men who disappeared during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The book was due to be published by Faber & Faber, who reportedly described McKee as a “rising star on investigative journalism” and said she had a “knack of engaging the head and the heart.” Credit: Peter McGregor via Storyful