20 Facts About Lyra McKee

Lyra Catherine McKee was a journalist from Northern Ireland who wrote for several publications about the consequences of the Troubles.

Lyra McKee served as an editor for Mediagazer, a news aggregator website.

On 18 April 2019, McKee was fatally shot during rioting in the Creggan area of Derry.

Lyra McKee was born on 31 March 1990 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Lyra McKee studied online journalism at Birmingham City University under Paul Bradshaw, pursuing a Master of Arts degree, but did not graduate.

Lyra McKee was posthumously awarded an MA in online journalism in January 2020; her sister, Nichola Corner, accepted the degree on her behalf.

In 2011, Lyra McKee joined the staff of news aggregator Mediagazer, a sister site of technology news aggregator Techmeme.

Lyra McKee sought crowdfunding to finance its publication, and it was scheduled for publication by Excalibur Press.

Lyra McKee subsequently signed a two-book deal with Faber and Faber.

Lyra McKee notably wrote "Suicide of the Ceasefire Babies", an article on teenage suicides linked to the conflict.

At the time of her death, Lyra McKee was researching unsolved killings during The Troubles in Northern Ireland of the late 20th century.

Lyra McKee gave a TEDx talk, "How uncomfortable conversations can save lives", at TEDxStormont Women in 2017, about the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting.

Lyra McKee was the partner of Sara Canning, a nurse at Altnagelvin Area Hospital, and had moved to Derry to be with her.

On 18 April 2019, Lyra McKee was shot during rioting in the Creggan area of Derry, Northern Ireland.

Lyra McKee, who was on Fanad Drive and standing near an armoured police Land Rover, was wounded in the head.

Lyra McKee was taken by police, in an armoured Land Rover, to Altnagelvin Area Hospital, where she later died.

Lyra McKee was survived by her partner, mother, two brothers and three sisters.

Lyra McKee's coffin was met with applause from the waiting public as it arrived at the cathedral.

The leaders of Northern Ireland's main political parties, the DUP, Sinn Fein, UUP, SDLP, Alliance Party and Green Party, released a joint statement condemning the killing of Lyra McKee and described it as "an attack on all the people of this community, an attack on the peace and democratic processes".

Leona O'Neill, a fellow Derry journalist who witnessed and wrote about Lyra McKee's killing, later received online threats, alleging that she was responsible, or had invented her account of the shooting.