She, her parents and siblings had left St Brigid's Catholic Church in Derryvolgie Avenue in south Belfast when two gunmen opened fire.
In a long letter published in The Irish Times in 1994, Thomas Travers wrote:"Mary's murder was carried out by member of an evil and brutal criminal organisation.
At that time Mary lay dying on her mum's breast, her gentle heart pouring its pure blood on to a dusty street in Belfast.
They also tried to claim that the bullet which killed the young schoolteacher had passed through her father's body first but a post mortem found she was shot directly in the spine.
[5] Sinn Féin spokesperson Danny Morrison described the killing of Mary Travers as "tragic and regrettable" but said the targeting of her father was "directly related to the political situation in Ireland".
[6] Mary McArdle, then aged 19, was arrested shortly after the attack and charged "after two hand guns, a grey wig and a black sock concealed in bandages were found strapped to her thighs."
[citation needed] Two months later, 33-year-old IRA member Joseph Patrick Haughey was arrested and charged in connection with the attack.
Haughey was acquitted due to lack of forensic evidence and doubts over his identity, although Thomas Travers had positively identified him.
Retired detective superintendent Alan Simpson wrote in the Belfast Telegraph on 11 June 2011 that he believed the shooting of the Travers family was revenge for a successful prosecution in the murder of a prison warder, William McConnell.
[9] He went on to say that "It is hard to believe that Sinn Féin are acting other than disingenuously by appointing Mary McArdle to a position carrying a taxpayer-funded salary of £78,000 – three times what a senior nurse in one of our hospitals would earn.
There were two gunmen, one standing over my dad shooting him and one who shot my sister in the back and attempted to murder my mother but the bullets jammed in the gun.
"[7] Paul Travers made an open appeal to Sinn Féin to work with the Historical Enquiries Team and determine who killed his sister:"You compare yourselves to Nelson Mandela.
"[7] In June 2013, the Northern Ireland Assembly passed a bill to bar anyone with a serious conviction from being named a special political adviser (SPAD).