A criminal who shot himself in the head after abducting his former partner and then trying to shoot gardaí who intervened, has died from his wounds.
Anthony Ward, a 31-year-old from Sperrin Road, Drimnagh, south Dublin, succumbed to his injuries at Tallaght Hospital, Dublin this afternoon.
The convicted drug dealer and armed robber never regained consciousness after shooting himself in the head by the side of the road in west Dublin in the early hours of yesterday morning after a dramatic series of events.
The dead man, who has recently been living in Crumlin, south Dublin, had a number of serious convictions and spent time in prison.
In 2010 he was jailed after being caught in possession of €800 worth of heroin sorted into street deal-sized parcels, which he claimed were “to share with his friends”.
He also had a range of convictions for public order offences, robbery, aggravated robbery and possession of a firearm.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) is investigating Ward's death because he sustained the fatal gunshot wound after being pursued by gardaí and while they tried to arrest him on foot.
“This incident was referred to Gsoc according to … the Garda Síochána Act 2005, which provides for independent investigation where death or serious harm has occurred to a person that has been in contact with a garda,” it said in a statement.
The dramatic events that culminated in Ward shooting himself began unfolding just before midnight on Monday when he called to a house in the Irishtown area of Dublin 4.
Gardaí believe he had been in a relationship with a woman living there. Eyewitnesses have told gardaí they saw a man dragging the woman from the property by the hair into his car after he had beaten her.
The car was then driven away by Ward, who gardaí believe travelled to a house in Crumlin to collect the handgun he would later shoot himself with.
He then drove from Crumlin to the Templelogue area and pulled into a Texaco service station near the Spawell leisure complex and M50.
He told the woman to go into the station to buy cigarettes and threatened that she would be harmed if she did not return.
While he waited in the car on the forecourt, the woman met two uniformed gardaí who were on a coffee break. They noticed she was injured and distressed.
After speaking to her, they went outside to confront Ward in the waiting car but he fled from the scene after seeing the officers.
He drove out of the station, with gardaí pursuing him in their vehicle. He drove on one side of the dual carriageway towards the roundabout leading on to the M50, but turned and came back down the other side of the road, passing the service station again.
Ward then lost control of the vehicle at the Spawell roundabout and crashed.
When he got out of his car, the pursuing gardaí approached him on foot.
Garda sources said he threatened the unarmed gardaí; pointing his gun at them and attempting to fire.
However, the gun jammed, and the gardaí retreated. Ward then fired a second shot at the ground, which cleared the weapon.
He continued on foot to a nearby grass verge where he discharged another shot and slumped to the ground. When the two gardaí at the scene ran to where he had collapsed, they found him with a gunshot wound to the head.
They called an ambulance which took him to nearby Tallaght Hospital where he died this afternoon. A post mortem on his remains was expected to take place this evening.
