A sixth man has been arrested in connection with the shooting of PSNI officer John Caldwell in Omagh, County Tyrone, on Wednesday night. 

Detective Chief Inspector Caldwell remains critically ill after being shot multiple times while putting footballs in his car following a training session at a sports complex in the Killyclogher Road area shortly after 8 p.m. on Wednesday, February 22.

His teenage son witnessed the shooting, while several other adults and teens were present at the time of the attack. 

The PSNI believes two gunmen shot Caldwell before fleeing the scene in a small black car, which was found burned out a short distance from the crime scene. 

On Saturday night, a 71-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack under the Terrorism Act. He was the sixth man to be arrested in connection to the incident and was taken to Musgrave Serious Crime Suite. 

Five other men - aged 22, 38, 43, 45, and 47 - remain in custody after being arrested in connection with the attack. 

The PSNI said on Saturday that it had been granted more time to continue to question four of the men. 

The PSNI also said the dissident republican group the New IRA is the primary focus of the investigation. 

Hundreds gathered in Omagh on Saturday afternoon for a rally in support of Caldwell, calling for an end to paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland. 

The rally gathered a short distance from the site of a 1998 dissident republican bomb attack, which left 29 dead, including a woman pregnant with twins. 

Rally organizer Anton McCabe told the crowd that there must be "no going back" to the years of violence and fear that existed during the Troubles. 

"The shooting of John Caldwell in front of children was barbaric. It has traumatized the children who were there. It has opened up the trauma many carry from the past," McCabe told the crowd.