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Updated 22.09pm
IT’S BEING REPORTED that the State funeral of Garda Tony Golden will take place on Thursday afternoon.
Further details emerged this afternoon about the tragic killing of an on-duty garda and the shooting of a young mother in county Louth yesterday evening.
Speaking to reporters outside Dundalk Garda Station, Superintendent Gerry Curley said the 21-year-old woman had gone to Omeath Garda Station yesterday by appointment to make a statement about a domestic incident.
She was then accompanied by Garda Tony Golden and her father to a house in the Mullach Alainn estate to collect her belongings. The woman’s father remained outside and heard gunshots shortly after his daughter and Garda Golden entered.
He raised the alarm and local gardaí and emergency services responded.
“Tony Golden was found with a number of gunshot wounds which proved to be fatal,” the superintendent told reporters.
Known to gardaí
A 24-year-old man, named as Adrian Crevan Mackin was also found with a fatal gunshot wound and the young woman who had earlier made a complaint to gardaí suffered serious injuries.
Curley said the woman, Mackin’s girlfriend and a mother of two young children, remains in critical condition in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
Local Green Party councillor Mark Deary knows the woman and said her condition stabilised overnight:
A young woman, her family are with her now. The wider family are up supporting her grandmother at the house. If they ever get over it’ll be a miracle but please God she’ll pull through.
Since news broke of the incident, it has emerged the man was known to gardaí and was on bail, having appeared in court in January on charges of being a member of an unlawful organisation. He is believed to have turned the gun on himself and taken his own life after shooting his girlfriend and Garda Golden.
The garda was based in Omeath Garda Station and lived in Blackrock, Co Louth. He was married with three young children and was described today by Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan as a “proud family man”.
She said the loss is “unthinkable” for his wife Nicola, for his children and their extended family.
O’Sullivan paid credit to the man’s colleagues for their professionalism at such a difficult time for them personally.
When a colleague is lost in such tragic circumstances they have to park the emotion, you know…
She said it had been very traumatic for officers who attended the scene, some of whom had also been at the scene of the murder of Garda Detective Adrian Donohoe over two years ago.
This evening the Commissioner visited the house where the tragic death of one of her colleagues took place.
Golden is the 88th garda to have been killed in the line of duty and Vice President of the Garda Representative Association toldTheJournal.ie that members of the force are in shock today.
Michelle Hennessy / Twitter"We all go to work realising it is a dangerous job and unfortunately our worst nightmare came true last night" - GRA VP Ciaran O'Neill.
— Michelle Hennessy (@michellehtweet) October 12, 2015
Dangerous
Fine Gael councillor for Drogheda, Richie Culhane, who is a former member of the force, told Morning Ireland that the Louth division “still remains a very dangerous place to work”. He said gardaí working in border areas are still putting their lives at risk every day.
Responding to reports of the garda going to the scene alone, Culhane said this is a “very dangerous situation to place members of the force in”.
Michelle Hennessy / TwitterLatest figures put garda numbers at Omeath Garda Station at four. pic.twitter.com/WZMr7O0V4x
— Michelle Hennessy (@michellehtweet) October 12, 2015
The councillor said further recruitment in the force is needed, particularly in border areas.
Councillor Mark Deary said the small, close-knit community of Omeath has been left “speechless” by the tragedy.
In the school carpark there just dropping the kids off at school and talking to our friends and neighbours about the most unbelievable invasion of violence, awful awful violence that has left a garda dead, the perpetrator himself dead and a young woman, a neighbour of ours, struggling for her life and we just pray for her and hope for a full recovery.
He described the incident as “an assault on us all”.
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Was on bail for terrorist offences and had a fireman.
Wtf!
A family with 3 young kids has lost their father because he went to work. This is the second time in this area.
The thing is the firearm, given the man’s background, was likely illegally acquired. The courts had to know that this was a risk if they allowed bail and took it anyway.
Poor man. He went out to do his work in the best way he could and like all our Gardai providing an invaluable service at what is often traumatic events for people. Truly a very difficult job. I guess we will have to think about how such a tragedy can be prevented in future and make whatever changes are needed. Our Gardai need protecting too.
The justice system in this country is broken, the criminals are laughing at the decent people of Ireland due to this lenient system. No free legal aid after 3 offences and 3 separate offences and your out. They may start building jails to put an end to this mess
Shocking! Awful news! The Guards don’t get the recognition they deserve. Thoughts are with his poor family. RIP
This man went out to work yesterday & like most of us his wife/partner & family expected him home at a certain time, his children will never be read to or tucked in by him again & his wife will never be held by him. I keep saying the biggest problem our country faces is CRIME & this one issue must be addressed because we are nothing if not safe. My heartfelt condolences to this mans wife & children.
It’s so sad.Nobody should be allowed to have guns. Don’t want to even think about the pain his family going through!! Rest in peace.
Bail laws need to be changed, even if that means a constitutional amendment. I’m all for innocent until proven guilty but some serious charges should be exempt from bail and focus should be on the judicial system being able to progress to trial promptly so ‘innocent’ people do not languish in prison on remand.
Insane! RIP Garda!
My thoughts really do go out to his family, friends and colleagues!
Cormac, where specifically are you getting that they were “ringing the Gardai over the whole weekend”? All the reports appear to say they called once and that the Garda who died was there in response to that call.
On bail for terrorism offences? How can someone be granted bail in such circumstances?
Constitutional right if I remember correctly. The more apt question is why was the bail set low enough to be affordable to an obviously active and unstable dissident?
Constitutional right me hole. There should be no bail for anyone charged with terrorism offences.
countrys gone to fcuk – rip garda golden
It irks me that noirin o sullivan spoke of the dangers “they” face, it should be “we” is she so far removed she has forgotten she too is a garda
When do you think she was on the beat last? You think she was at all? But her wording makes it very clear how she sees herself imo.
Her phrasing reflects an appropriate modesty that those on the front-line face greater physical risks than she does in a strategic role.
Denis…read her statement…similar to Edna’s,bland,PC,….”incident”,”tragic”,”sad”,as though they don’t want to offend the killers “community” by being “judgemental” and “knee jerk”….
A guard on his own responding to any type of domestic dislike is outrageous. Only 4 guards in the entire station party on a border town.
There’s no doubt you could’ve had more working but the Govt cut the budget so badly that rural Ireland is essentially a police free state.
People are terrified in their homes and this is just a another very tragic example of what policing cut backs does
The government actually quote statistics that suggest removing rural garda stations has no immediate effect on crime. A response unit hundreds of kilometres away can do the job. Give criminals freedom to carry out crimes. We’ll pick them up on the M50.
It’s genius isn’t it.
well Tommy I know where I live that there has hardly been a weekend without car thefts, castle russling and buglaries. this area would have hardly had a buglary a year. the cutbacks are a disgrace. I prefer community policing any day.
Me too Margaret. After so many robberies and plenty around the district I know us elderly and disabled live in fear. Fear at home and fear if we go out. So far it us twice at home and three times out. No replacing is my advice so when they come there is nothing for them as much as possible.
4 covering different shifts.
No-one should be granted bail for terrorism offences.
Only problem with that, is that you end up like America, where the police and prosecutors now routinely terrier-related laws to put away, for many years, kids who have been found with some hash in their car.
Serious questions to be asked sending an unarmed guard into a house were a known ira member was … All gardai should be armed
if there was phonecalls made to the gardai that this man had a gun , then why was the garda sent out to investigate on his own ?
Should have been a car full. It will not bring back this brave young man, husband and father. Many mourn for for this lad. Something must be done to ensure none of the lads are put in this situation anymore, do something to honour this boy.
coward
So sad (rip) condolences to Garda,s family colleagues and friends
hope the murderer rots in hell. rip to the poor young garda!!
He went there alone to a domestic and knowing what was to happen. Gardai should not be working alone. This needs to be looked at going forward. It’s no good now but will be in the future.
When you go to a domestic dispute, you don’t expect to be shot at by an angry terrorist on bail. Wouldn’t have made much of a difference if he was there with support as the regular Gardaí are unarmed and unable to respond to live rounds.
Thye gardai knew exactly who they were dealing with. They were getting phone calls all over the weekend from the womans family telling them that he was dangerous. he was out on bail as well for fire arms offences
I left out the word NOT knowing what was to happen. Apologies.
How do you know all this. sounds like you are victim blaming rather than just say it as it is, the $cum murdered two innocent unarmed people. absolute coward
I know it because its on the front of the Indo this morning
He killed himself so only one innocent person was murdered….
Cholly is probably referring to older reports. It was initially reported that the wife and Garda Anthony Golden were fatally shot as well as the gunman however it is now known that the wife is in stable condition in hospital.
I’m glad to hear she is stable. Hopefully she’ll pull through.
I feel sorry for members of the Gardai pulling their own safety at risk because the government fails to recruit enough people into the force. It is a fact that in some regions members are expected to do a huge amount overtime to make a decent wage and therefore keep the force undermanned.
why were the provisions that should be put in place when dealing with a suspected armed man ?
considering the number of assaults and killing involved in domestic abuse, and the high emotions, I would have thought it would be one of the most dangerous events to get involved in , regardless of the perpetrator’s background. if it was known the perpetrator was after being released on arms charges I really cannot understand why a decision to allow an unarmed garda intervene was allowed.
Is there no end to the goings on? I am sorry fir this young woman indeed, her recovery will be all the more painful as she has lost her husband. I hope the kids are coping.
DITTO
They do a lot for the community and you get little toe rags putting up videos at the protest of the water meters trying to make them look bad in every way. Rip to that young man and woman and hopefully their families will have the strength in this hard time
Dreadful absolutely disgusting murder by IRA psychopath.
The shooter would have been 4 years of age when the IRA signed up to the GFA.
Whats disgusting is your attempt to score political points off the tragic death of a Garda.
We’re Jammin would Ya ever get lost defending Sinn Fein and the IRA. Sicko
it is truly disgusting that SFs only concern is the cult
at least you’ve stopped pretending to be polite Dane but it was ok any of us used to your tireless rants recognise you for the schizophrenic troll you are
That Fine Gael councillor for Drogheda, Richie Culhane was on radio this morning , he was using this tragic death to make political points, bloody disgrace he actually said the garda should have known with the knowledge that he was charged with membership of IRA that would have been an indication that the garda wouldnt have gone there on his own for obvious reasons
Philip would it not make perfect sense that where an individual has been identified as a member of a dangerous dissident group and as a dangerous person linked with terrorist offences that no garda should be expected to enter alone into a volatile situation with such an individual present. A very high risk situation. Their personal safety has to come first. Disgraceful that they are so short staffed they are putting their lives at risk to do their job.
One common thread of all thes horific cases recently including Tipperary last week – ” OUT ON BAIL”. Most members of our high paid judiciary should hang their heads in shame.
Terrible tragedy.
Instead of splashing the budget cash on nice to haves why don’t the government Reinstate the local garda, put money back into local stations that were closed. This is happening all to often.
Sounds like an emotionally charged domestic dispute. His republican links are of secondary importance.
Could have happened anywhere, anytime.
I suppose Enda and Joan will be blaming Gerry Adams in Dail Eireann this morning and asking him
‘Mr.Adams. Why weren’t you there to intervene and stop this murder?’
Tommy where do you think he got the gun?
Many different sources open to him.
Obviously having republican links that option was there.
As far as we can ascertain this was an emotionally charged domestic dispute which spiralled out of control.
Some people seem to inferring that it was the assassination of a member of the Gardai by the IRA.
Nonsense.
“Tommy where do you think he got the gun?”
So Jane are you telling us ALL illegal firearms come from the IRA? You need to contact the Gardaí with this explosive (excuse the pun) information.
Illegal firearms are widely available throughout Europe. Thanks to the collapse of the Iron Curtain and especially Yugoslavia there’s now a large number of former Warsaw Pact weapons floating around on the black market.
Knowing his background, I wouldn’t imagine it would be very hard for him to source a firearm.
Exactly Jason because of his background it was possible for him to get a gun. There are many men and women beating their partners on a regular basis but they don’t have the access to firearms that this lad had. I think that’s why his background is important and it also points to a total disregard for law and order.
Tommy this was not a domestic dispute, it was domestic abuse. He had the gun, he was threatening her all weekend, he thought it was ok to shot her and the brave Garda that no doubt was trying to protect her. No dispute here just what a 24 year man with a gun wanted and now that poor family with 3 children under the age of 8 have to live with. I hope the woman who was shot pulls through. RIP brave Garda Golden.
If that’s the case then why was one unarmed Garda sent to the scene to deal with the situation?
An armed response unit should have been the reply.
Lack of Garda resources?
Poorly managed situation?
Of course the Garda Commissioner will spin her way through the crisis ignoring the reality that the buck stoops with her.
Same old same old…..
Absolutely agree. There has to be some responsibility taken from those higher up. No Garda should be on their own when responding to such a call. I thought that would have been a given.
A mate of mine a Garda said that calling out to domestic incidents are the worst and he dreaded them.
Tommy, I could be wrong but my understanding of the article gives me the impression that he wasn’t responding to a call but was accompanying the lady to her house to collect belongings and was then ambushed inside by that coward. It is common practice to escort people to collect belongings and certainly wouldn’t be possible to have an armed response unit for each one.
@Mick.
I stand corrected.
Thanks.
The article has been updated since this morning.
Deborah, you really have no idea how it works in the real world. There is simply not enough members stationed in Omeath and plenty of other rural areas too I might add that would allow members go out in pairs etc. It is not possible to inform people calling the Station that you can’t deal with their call as there’s not enough members working – it just doesn’t work like that. As for Tony attending the call on his own – it’s shocking to say but if two members attended that particular call chances are we’d be reading about the deaths of 2 members. Tony was ambushed, he didn’t stand a chance – being armed or unarmed makes no difference in this case, in my opinion anyway.
Carlovian….I think you are right.cold blooded ambush.
May he rest in peace
that girl’s father must also be in terrible shock , walking in on that and seeing his poor daughter .
I hope there is an increase in resources sent to the border areas, no Gardai to work alone, and the ERU to be on patrol so they are available to ordinary Gardai…
A good shake down of the listed addresses of those associated with terror gangs, search there known locations for guns…
RIP. Poor family Bullet proof vests should be mandatory tho
RIP
RIP, Thoughts and prayers with his family
Time to hit the road and impress on the Government the need to reopen the closed Gardai stations and there is a population outside the cities that need protection from from such vile heartless CRIMS. Too long the rural and farming population have been treated as second class citizens and totally disregarded as to what our needs are when it comes to our safety and provision of work which is always centred on city folk. Time to make this mamby pamby Government know we will no longer be treated as second class Irishmen. and Women.
But what about Alan Shatters “smart policing”???? That will eliminate the need for all those obsolete stations…SMART POLICING going forward…a good test for any of these phrases ” rolled out” by our intellectual superiors is to ask..what is the opposite to- – - – -
Your articles state that he was killed. The Garda wasn’t killed. He was murdered. Murdered in cold blood. Unarmed. Killed indicates some form of possible accident. This was a Terrorist s€um murdering and unarmed man.
As the background of the fireman is well known to Guardia, why was only one Garda sent? I also don’t know if the garda is armed?
RIP brave Garda – fault is with sick system that allows people with convictions / links to terrorism function in society. how many more? I Hope Garda family gets looked after, I know it means little but my best sympathies.
The question is not that he had a gun. It is where did he get this gun? Hope Garda Forensics can get the answer. These foolish dissidents should be locked up, they are a pollutant on our society.
My condolences go out to the wife and 3 children that have been deeply affected and left with no father. Things definitely need to change in order to protect people. Why was 1 police officer sent out to deal with this alone as i dont believe any police officer should deal with domestic disputes alone. Due to the risk of violence to all and the recent criminal history of person. Lone working should not happen with high risk people or unarmed police. Especially if it was known to garda that he had possession of fire arms before.
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