ITalkShite
Well-Known Member
What the fuck?
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2005/0526/breaking18.htm
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2005/0526/breaking18.htm
Two men shot dead in attempted Dublin raid
By Patrick Logue
Last updated: 26-05-05, 13:08
Two men died this morning when gardaí foiled an attempted raid on a north Co Dublin post office.
The men were part of a five-man gang trying to rob the post office in Lusk just after it opened at 8am, gardaí said. They were shot by gardaí after they reportedly refused to put down their weapons.
It is believed gardaí, including members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), were lying in wait for the gang overnight. A witness said armed officers were seen exiting a camper van as the raid commenced. Other officers were waiting inside the post office behind the counter when the gang burst in, armed with at least one gun and a sledgehammer.
A Garda statement said: "Armed gardaí challenged five men inside the premises as they were attempting to carry out a robbery shortly after it opened for business at 8am."
"Shots were fired and two men were injured," he added. One man was dead on arrival at Beaumont Hospital while the other died at about 11am in hospital.
Three other men were arrested and held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. One man is in his late 30s, another in his late 20s and the third in his early 20s. They are being held in various Garda stations in the Dublin region.
A gun and other weapons were found at the scene.
The head of the Garda Press Office, Supt Kevin Donohoe, who travelled to Lusk this morning, said officers were at the scene when the gang arrived to raid the post office. He said the surveillance was being carried out as "part of ongoing investigations".
He could not confirm that the men were shot after they refused to drop their weapons when ordered to do so by officers. "All I can say at this stage is that shots were fired," he said.
The dead men have not been formally identified as yet but at least one of them is believed to be well-known to gardaí.
Acting Garda Commisioner, Deputy Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, has appointed Chief Superintendent Kevin Ludlow, Cork City Division, to investigate "all aspects surrounding this incident", the statement said.
The scene has been sealed off for forensic examination.
Labour's justice spokesman Joe Costello said the deaths of the two men in a reported exchange of fire with gardaí was "yet further evidence of the growing problem of gun crime in this country".
"Armed robberies of post-offices and cash-consignments and the taking of hostages have become all too common. With such widespread use of weapons, it was always only going to be matter of time before there were fatalities," he said.
He said he welcomed the speedy announcement of an internal Garda inquiry, but "this may not be sufficient to deal with legitimate matters of public concern that may arise".
"In this regard it is particularly regrettable that almost four years after the original announcement, we still do not have a Garda Ombudsman's office which would be the appropriate institution to carry out such an investigation."
