Detectives are continuing to interview young people who were in the queue for the St Patrick’s night event at the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown which ended in tragedy. They are working with school principals to accommodate this.
Morgan Barnard, 17, Lauren Bullock, also 17, and Connor Currie, 16, died after the crush at the Greenvale on 17 March.
The initial police response to the incident is to be investigated by the Police Ombudsman.
By Tuesday evening, detectives involved in the investigation had identified 619 people who were in the queue or car park on the evening of March 17. Almost half – 267 of those have now been fully interviewed using appropriately trained detectives.
Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray said police will be continuing to interview others over the next few days.
“We are very aware that this continues to be an extremely traumatic time for all of those who were at the Greenvale Hotel and witnessed the terrible events of that night. We have taken considerable steps to make it as easy as possible for them to provide their statements to police,” he said.
He said over 100 people attended the dedicated room at the Burnavon and spoke to officers who are specially trained in interviewing young people.
“This facility has now closed and instead we are speaking to students at their respective schools. We are working closely with the local principals to accommodate this,” he added.
Anyone who was at the Greenvale can upload mobile phone footage and images of the evening to a portal.
“We have been downloading mobile phone footage from people at the scene by using one of our Cyber Support Vehicles in Cookstown,” he said.
And anyone who has not yet spoken to police is asked to come forward.
“It is still really important for anyone who has not yet contacted us to please come forward and work with police to help build an accurate picture of what happened that night.
“I would again reassure anyone with concerns, the focus of our investigation is not the age of people who were at the event – it is about trying to find answers for the families of the three teenagers who tragically died,” he added.