Two held over Cork pub shooting

Gardaí investigating an incident which led to man being shot by armed gardaí for refusing to drop a gun in a Cork city pub last…

Gardaí investigating an incident which led to man being shot by armed gardaí for refusing to drop a gun in a Cork city pub last month have arrested two men.

One man (29),was arrested shortly before midday at a location in the south of the city, is being questioned about the illegal possession of a firearm, according to a Garda spokesman. A second man was arrested late this afternoon.

Both men are being held at Gurranebraher Garda station, where they can be detained for up to seven days.

Last month's incident happened when a man, armed with a loaded shotgun, entered the Mo Chuisle Bar near the bottom of Blarney Street on the northside of the city and demanded to see the owner of the pub.

READ MORE

Gardaí were alerted and members of the armed regional support unit were mobilised. They entered the pub where it is understood that three armed members of the unit challenged the man and ordered him to drop his weapon.

The man refused to do so and one of the officers discharged a single shot from his Sig 9mm automatic weapon, wounding the man in the stomach whereupon the loaded shotgun was confiscated and the man was rushed to hospital.

The man was rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.

The incident was the second in recent months in which shots were fired at the pub. On October 5th, 2008 a man armed with a sawn-off shotgun fired a shot into the bar which was full of customers.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times