Gardaí seek public help after man shot dead

GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the murder of a 30-year-old man in Co Tipperary early yesterday morning have appealed to the public for assistance as they try to trace a car used in the shooting.

Shane Rossiter, from Clonmel, was shot in the stomach when he went to answer a knock at the door of the house he was sharing with his girlfriend at Church Lane in Golden, near Cashel, at about 6.45am.

There were four other people in the house at the time – two men and two women – and they raised the alarm. Mr Rossiter was rushed by ambulance to South Tipperary General Hospital where he died a short time later.

Gardaí under Supt Nicholas McGrath of Tipperary town launched a full murder inquiry and the scene of the shooting was cordoned off to allow the Garda Technical Bureau carry out a full forensic examination of the scene.

It is understood that those who were in the house with Mr Rossiter at the time were too traumatised to make full witness statements to gardaí yesterday morning but gardaí expect to take full statements from them in the coming days.

Gardaí also began door-to-door inquiries in Golden to see if anyone had noticed any suspicious activity in the area either in the immediate run-up to the shooting yesterday or in the preceding days.

Local detectives also began examining CCTV footage and it is understood that gardaí will also examine mobile phone records in a bid to try to identify the killers of Mr Rossiter.

Gardaí are particularly anxious to speak to anyone who may have seen a four-door black saloon car which they believe was used by the two-man gang to carry out the shooting and which may have been seen around Golden yesterday morning.

State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy carried out a postmortem on Mr Rossiter yesterday evening at Waterford Regional Hospital but gardaí were not disclosing her findings for operational reasons.

Mr Rossiter was known to gardaí and had served sentences for assault as well as drug dealing but local sources expressed surprise at the idea that he might be involved in organised crime as he was known to suffer from addiction problems.

According to one source, his problems worsened after the death of his younger brother Brian in 2002 and he began to get into trouble with gardaí while he also had a lucky escape in 2006 when he was present at another fatal shooting.

Mr Rossiter was present when Owen Cahill was shot dead at a house at Poulbay, Clonmel, on April 2nd, 2006, while his sister, Sharon, who was Mr Cahill’s partner, suffered an injury when she was struck by the gunman with the butt of a shotgun.

Mr Rossiter’s father Pat said yesterday that he did not know why his son had been killed. “I don’t have any idea why anything happened . . . we’re just trying to piece it together,” said Mr Rossiter at his home in Clonmel.