Gardaí seize shotguns after standoff with pensioner

A seven-hour stand-off between armed gardaí and an elderly widower armed with two shotguns has ended without injury after gardaí managed to remove the man safely from his house in Co Cork this evening.

The man had barricaded himself into his farmhouse in Crookstown when gardaí called to his house today to confiscate a shotgun.

Gardaí in Macroom had revoked the man’s licence for the shotgun following an incident recently and initial approaches last week by gardaí to the man to ask him to hand over the weapon were met with a refusal.

A party of gardai went to the house near Béal na mBláth at about midday today after obtaining a court warrant in order to confiscate the shotgun but the man refused to admit them to the property.

Gardaí were forced to retreat from the vicinity of the house when the man – who was alone in the house at the time – fired a shot from an upstairs window into the trees.

Gardaí under Supt Mick Fitzpatrick of Macroom Garda station requested back-up and two trained negotiators arrived at the scene along with armed members of the Regional Support Unit.

The Garda press office issued an appeal for a media blackout on the incident throughout the afternoon and a secure cordon was put in place as negotiators maintained a dialogue with the man.

Shortly before 7pm, gardaí observed him in the porch of the farmhouse without a weapon and members of the RSU burst through the door and subdued him and quickly escorted him from the building.

The man was not arrested but gardai seized two legally held shotguns from the house and they were removed for a forensic examination to establish if either one was used to fire the shot discharged earlier in the day.

The man was tonight being assessed by a local doctor and it’s understood that he is to be allowed return home accompanied by family members who had gone to the scene to assist.