Gardaí in Cork have arrested seven adults and a juvenile for questioning following an incident, where it was reported shots were fired in a housing estate following a confrontation between two feuding families in the city.
The arrests happened after a group of six men wearing balaclavas and armed with slash hooks and machetes arrived in two cars into the Ravensdale Close area of Mahon on Cork’s south side at about 5.15pm.
It’s believed that the gang, who are members of a family from Fairhill on Cork’s north side, were preparing to attack the home of a local Mahon family with whom they have been involved in a feud over the past few weeks.
According to gardaí, they received reports that a shot was fired at the Fairhill faction and they are investigating whether it may have come from inside the house in Ravensdale Close, forcing the would be attackers to flee the scene.
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The gang made their way back to Cork city centre, where they were spotted by detectives from Togher and one group abandoned their car. Two people were arrested and brought to the Bridewell Garda station for questioning.
Meanwhile gardaí stopped a van on the Mahon flyover near Mahon Point Shopping Centre and arrested two women believed to be members of the rival Mahon faction. They recovered some knives during a search of the vehicle.
The two women were taken to Gurranebraher and Mayfield Garda stations for questioning about the earlier incident, while gardaí also arrested a juvenile who was with the women but he was later released without charge.
Gardaí also carried out a search of the house in Ravensdale Close and recovered a series of weapons including slash hooks, machetes, hammers and pitchforks well as a number of bullet proof vests.
Gardaí arrested three men at the house following the discovery of the weapons and all three have been taken to Togher Garda Station for questioning about the weapons and the ongoing feud.
Nobody was injured in the incident today and gardaí so far have not found any firearms but searches are continuing at the homes of the southside family in Mahon and the northside family in Fairhill.
Members of the Armed Support Unit have also been deployed to both locations and others associated with both factions as gardaí work to prevent any further incidents in the ongoing feud.
All seven adults are currently in custody. Two members of the Fairhill family and five members of the Mahon family were arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to 24 hours.
