A group of armed men, wearing balaclavas, approached a 22-year-old man’s house singled him out as a target and shot him several times in both ankles as children played close by.

This paramilitary-style shooting took place on Sunday evening on the Creggan Road, in the Rosemound area of Derry city.

Neighbors who witnessed the shooting said the 22-year-old man was forced to the ground before he was shot. They also told UTV that local children were playing close-by at the time.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) said another young woman and her children were threatened. She was told to leave the scene or she would be shot.

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Foyle Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Pat Ramsey said “This is a despicable act that has left the community of the Creggan Hill area in fear…There is absolutely no place for guns, punishment shootings or kangaroo courts in our society."

A local community worker, Tommy McCourt said he  has dealt with dozens of cases lately where local men have been threatened. McCourt says condemning the violence is not enough. He called on the government to set up programs to deal with this level of violence.

He said “You must engage and you must put programmes in place which can deal with this…We've dealt with 60 cases in the last few months of people who've been threatened and out of those 60 cases, we've resolved almost 50.

"That has actually prevented the kind of incident that occurred last night."

So far, this year 25 people have been shot in punishment-style shooting in Derry. Two have taken place over the last week.

The man involved in this shooting is now recovering in hospital.