Angry locals question gardai's use of force to end Carthy siege

Shock turned into anger yesterday in the Co Longford village of Abbeylara where a local man, Mr John Carthy, was shot dead by gardai at the end of a 25-hour siege at his home.

Local people criticised Garda tactics during the operation, saying the large armed contingent may have added tension to the situation. They also questioned whether gardai needed to use so much force to end the siege.

"It has all the hallmarks of a botched job," said Mr Vincent Quinn, a local farmer. "They didn't seem to have any plan B."

Gardai opened fire on Mr Carthy only after he had walked the length of the driveway from his front door - a distance of about 20 yards - and a further five to 10 paces to the road where up to 30 gardai, many of whom were armed with Uzi sub-machineguns, were sheltering.

According to gardai, Mr Carthy turned his back on armed members of the emergency response unit, who were crouched behind the garden wall, and began walking towards unarmed officers further up the road.

Before gardai began shooting he was said to have failed to comply with numerous orders to put down the double-barrelled shotgun he was carrying.

Mr Carthy was known to have had poor relations with local gardai after he was accused two years ago of burning a mascot belonging to the local GAA club. No prosecution arose from the incident and, according to locals, Mr Carthy felt he had been victimised.

The standoff began when gardai arrived at his house on Wednesday evening after his mother left following an argument.

"When the guards arrived I'd say he lost his cool. He was the kind of a guy who wouldn't like to back down from a situation," said one local who did not want to be named.

"He had a kind of Rambo style to him. He liked to act tough but if there was any sign of a fight he would run a mile. I imagine what happened at the end was that he walked out defiantly with some idea in his head that he would somehow save face or get the better of the guards by hanging on to the gun.

"But there is no way he would have hurt anyone. Everyone is very annoyed at the way it ended. He should have been `winged' first, shot in the knee or something, and if he continued to be a threat then maybe they should have fired again. The way it happened was all wrong."

There was speculation that Mr Carthy may have fired his last bullet before coming out. Gardai said around 25 shots were fired, which is the number of bullets contained in a standard box.

Some local anger was also directed at the media, particularly over reports which portrayed the gunman as mentally unstable. Mr Carthy was believed to have been listening to radio reports throughout the siege, although his TV cable was said to have been cut.

"The whole thing seemed to be run like a Garda PR exercise," said Mr Quinn. "It started at 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday and it was on Five Seven Live by 6.40 p.m. It was almost as if they were trying to provoke a reaction from him."

Father P.J. Fitzpatrick, the parish priest who read Mr Carthy the Last Rites, said the shooting had affected many people. "The family, of course, are suffering most.

"But it should be said the police would not have wished for it to have ended in this manner. It was everyone's wish and prayer that it would have ended peacefully."

Father Fitzpatrick said Mr Carthy was dead when he arrived at the scene and that he only saw his face and head as the rest of his body was covered. "There were no marks from what I could see."

According to gardai, Mr Carthy died on the roadway about 10 minutes after he was shot. His body was removed to Mullingar Hospital.

A friend and work colleague, Mr Kevin Ireland, said yesterday that he spoke to Mr Carthy while he was barricaded into his home. Speaking to RTE radio's News at One, Mr Ireland said Mr Carthy phoned him at around noon, asking for a solicitor.

"He seemed very relaxed on the phone," he said. "He just seemed like he wanted to be left alone in the house, and he said he'd give up when he got his solicitor." Mr Ireland urged him not to shoot anyone, including himself. He said Mr Carthy replied: "I haven't a notion of doing that."