An unarmed garda was standing in the middle of the road directly in the line of fire of Mr John Carthy when he emerged from his house carrying a loaded gun, the Barr tribunal has heard.
The tribunal, which is investigating the shooting dead of Mr Carthy by gardaí at Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April 2002, resumed hearings yesterday.
Two gardaí told the tribunal yesterday that Mr Carthy was staring "fixedly" at them moments before he was shot dead and they had believed their lives were in danger.
Sgt Alan Murray, an unarmed uniformed garda, said he was afraid his armed colleagues would allow Mr Carthy to fire "one shot too many" before they stopped him. Sgt Murray had been standing beside the wall of Burke's house, next door to Mr Carthy's, when he heard members of the emergency response unit (ERU) shout: "Drop the gun, John".
He moved to a position farther up the road away from the Carthy house. It was at this point he saw Mr Carthy standing in the middle of the road levelling a gun at him.
In his statement to the tribunal, Sgt Murray said Mr Carthy was "totally fixated with the members in front of him, me being one of them".
He said he agreed with the statement "I believed I was in danger." He told the tribunal he was afraid the armed local gardaí in front of him would wait for Mr Carthy to fire before responding.
"I knew the lads wouldn't want to fire, that they would always want to give a person any chance they can. I was afraid they would give John Carthy one chance too many."
An armed local garda told the tribunal he had made up his mind to shoot Mr Carthy seconds before he was shot by the ERU.
Det Sgt Aidan Foley was positioned on the road between Sgt Murray and Mr Carthy at the time of the killing. He said he had heard the ERU members call on Mr Carthy to put down his gun several times. However, the 27-year-old continued up the road carrying his firearm.
"I felt he was going to shoot," Sgt Foley said. "I made up my mind and said to Garda Boland: 'We are going to have to do it'."
Sgt Foley was preparing to shoot Mr Carthy when he heard the first shot. "I believed my life was in immediate danger." Mr Carthy's face was "an unusual yellowy colour", he said. "He had a dead, 'fixatious' stare on his face. I was of the opinion that he was staring at me."
