Lyra McKee was wounded by shots fired toward police amid unrest that included dozens of Molotov cocktails and two hijacked cars. She died on the way to the hospital early Friday. Londonderry police are treating the incident as a "terrorist" act
"I was standing beside this young woman when she fell beside a police Land Rover tonight in Creggan #Derry. I called an ambulance for her but police put her in the back of their vehicle and rushed her to the hospital where she died," Leona O'Neill, a journalist for The Belfast Telegraph, and eyewitness, tweeted. "Sick to my stomach tonight."
McKee was 29 years old and was an editor and reporter for Mediagazer, a California-based publication that writes about the media industry. She had also written for The Atlantic and BuzzFeed News. She recently signed a contract to write two books and had risen to prominence in 2014 with a blog post describing the struggle of growing up gay in Northern Ireland.
"McKee's passion is to dig into topics that others don't care about," Forbes magazine wrote in 2016 as it named her one of it's "30 under 30" notable media figures.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the New IRA "is likely to be the ones behind this" and detectives have started a murder inquiry.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the murder was "shocking and senseless".
Mobile phone footage was taken by a bystander during Thursday night's rioting appears to show a masked gunman crouching down on the street and opening fire with a handgun.
Ms. McKee, who was standing near a police 4×4 vehicles, was wounded.
Lilly Dancyger, who edited a piece by McKee for Narratively, said she "was dedicated to covering the lasting trauma & violence of the Troubles. Devastating to hear she was killed tonight by that same violence."
Next month, McKee had been due to speak at an event to mark World Press Freedom Day, hosted by Amnesty International, about the murder of journalist Marie Colvin, the NUJ said.
Technology journalist and friend of McKee, Matthew Hughes, described her death as "heartbreaking" on Twitter.
"She was one of my closest friends. She was my mentor. She was a grooms woman at my wedding," he wrote. "I can't imagine life without her, and yet now I must. I'm devastated."
