On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This had meant the possible withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland. Her brothers Seamus and Michael also died in the attack, which was later claimed by the Protestant Action Force, a cover name for the Mid-Ulster UVF. Unlike Jackson, Somerville was arrested in the wake of the Miami atrocity, but he refused to make a statement and was released without charge. The scene of the Miami Showband massacre Somerville would never. The gunman turned him round, punched him hard in the back and pushed him on the shoulder back into the line-up. It would appear that the UVF patrol surprised members of a terrorist organisation transferring weapons to the Miami Showband minibus and that an explosive device of some description was being carried by the Showband for an unlawful purpose. Photograph: Independent News and Media/Getty Images [44], McDowell's statement of admission was published in David McKittrick's book Lost Lives:[44]. [4], The killings shocked both Northern Ireland and Ireland and put a serious strain on Anglo-Irish relations. His leadership was endorsed by the UVF's leader Gusty Spence. Hurled in opposite directions, they were both decapitated and their bodies dismembered. The scene of the Miami Showband Killings on the A1 road at Buskhill Miami Showband Killings - The Day The Music Died | Belfast Child "Billy Mac") took over as the group's frontman when the Simon brothers quit the band. U 4. [4] Despite the heavy gunfire, Tony Geraghty and Fran O'Toole attempted to carry a severely injured Stephen Travers to safety, but were unable to move him far. Following the explosion pandemonium broke out among the remaining gunmen; shouting obscenities, they started shooting the dazed band members, who had all been blown down into the field below the level of the road from the force of the blast. Updated / Monday, 13 Dec 2021 22:28. 5 languages The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband massacre) [1] was an attack on 31 July 1975 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. Tests done on the glasses, which were eventually traced back to McDowell, revealed that the lenses were of a prescription worn by just 1 in 500,000 of the population.