The shootings were part of a string of attacks on Catholics and Irish nationalists by the "Glenanne gang"; an alliance of loyalist militants, rogue British soldiers and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police officers.

Loyalists, fearing they were about to be forsaken by the British government and forced into a united Ireland,[4] increased their attacks on Irish Catholics/Irish nationalists.

The fall-off of regular operations had caused unruliness within the IRA and some members, with or without permission from higher up, engaged in tit-for-tat killings.

The RUC denied having patrols in the area at the time, but said there could have been checkpoints manned by the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

[17] In 1988, while imprisoned, former RUC officer Billy McCaughey (died 2006) admitted being one of the men who took part in the Reavey attack—although he denied firing any shots.

[11] At that time he was a member of the RUC's Special Patrol Group (SPG), but in 1980 he was imprisoned for his involvement in the sectarian murder of William Strathearn.

[2] He also claimed that RUC reservist James Mitchell (died 2008) had driven the getaway car, along with his housekeeper Lily Shields.

[11] RUC SPG officer John Weir, in his affidavit made to Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron, named those involved in the Reavey shootings as Robert McConnell (a soldier of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment), Laurence McClure (an RUC SPG officer), James Mitchell, and another man.

[11] In a meeting with Eugene Reavey, the RUC officer heading the investigation also named McConnell, McClure and Mitchell as suspects.

[11] Anthony Reavey's description of the man carrying the submachine gun closely fits that of McConnell, despite the gunman having worn a black woollen balaclava.

[26] Weir named Mid-Ulster UVF leader Robin "the Jackal" Jackson (died 1998) as the main gunman in the O'Dowd shootings.

[11] Jackson was also named as having a key role in the 1974 Dublin car bombings, Miami Showband massacre and a series of sectarian killings.

Eugene claims the soldiers assaulted and humiliated his mother, put a gun to his back, and danced on his dead brothers' clothes.

[31] In 2007, the Police Service of Northern Ireland apologised for the "appalling harassment suffered by the family in the aftermath at the hands of the security forces".

[32] After the killings of the Reavey brothers, their father made his five surviving sons swear not to retaliate or to join any republican paramilitary group.

[20] In 1999, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley stated in the House of Commons that Eugene Reavey "set up the Kingsmill massacre".