Gardaí investigating the deaths of two men in Co Carlow on Saturday following a dispute over land believe the first victim was shot twice as he retreated from a confrontation with the second man who subsequently took his own life.
James Healy (30), a father of one from Garryduff, Paulstown, Co Kilkenny suffered two gunshot wounds after he was shot by Michael Kehoe (39), a bachelor, at Coolyhune, Co Carlow on Saturday morning.
Mr Healy and his brother Brian were attempting to carry out fencing work on land he had purchased last year when they were confronted by Mr Kehoe at around 11am on Saturday morning.
The Irish Times has learned that Mr Healy had notified gardaí in advance that he was going to carry out work on the land at Coolyhune as he had anticipated that there might be trouble. It could not be established last night when exactly gardaí were notified. Mr Healy had got an injunction recently against Michael Kehoe to restrain him from disrupting him, it has emerged.
A verbal altercation took place which led to Mr Kehoe returning to the family farmhouse where he lived alone and going back to the scene with his legally held double barrel shotgun.
Gardaí believe that Mr Kehoe then fired a shot in the air and as Mr Healy and his brother were retreating, he fired a second shot wounding Mr Healy before firing a third which fatally wounded Mr Healy.
Brian Healy managed to flee the scene and raise the alarm. Two gardaí on duty at Graiguenamanagh Garda station some three miles away were at the scene within five minutes along with the emergency services and a doctor.
The doctor pronounced Mr Healy dead at the scene and gardaí called in State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy as they launched a murder investigation and began a search for Mr Kehoe who was still armed with his shotgun.
Up to 15 armed gardaí from Kilkenny, Waterford and Thomastown went to the scene where, backed up by uniformed officers, they cordoned off the area and began a search for Mr Kehoe.
Gardaí attempted to make contact by phone with Mr Kehoe but failed to do so. At around 4pm, two armed detectives spotted him in an outhouse near the family farm and began engaging in conversation.
According to a Garda spokesman, Mr Kehoe's brother, John, and an uncle and cousin were brought to the Garda cordon around the scene. Gardaí relayed messages from them to Mr Kehoe who remained in the outhouse.
A Garda spokesman said two detectives engaged Mr Kehoe in conversation for approximately one hour and 45 minutes and tried to persuade him to come out but that he refused to do so.
The spokesman said that Mr Kehoe was extremely distraught and at approximately 6pm gardaí heard a single gunshot from the outhouse and entered it to discover that Mr Kehoe had shot himself.
The Irish Times understands that Mr Kehoe killed himself with a single gunshot to the head. Both his body and that of Mr Healy were examined at the scene by Dr Cassidy before being removed to Waterford Regional Hospital. Post-mortems were carried out yesterday.
Supt Kevin Donohoe of the Garda press office said that gardaí were satisfied with the manner in which officers handled the stand-off with Mr Kehoe even though the outcome was not the one that they had wished for. "This is a very tragic incident and we sympathise with both families on their loss - from our initial inquiries, we are satisfied with the management of the situation at the scene even though obviously none of our officers would have wanted this outcome."
