The discovery of two bodies with gunshot wounds at a bed and breakfast premises in Carlow has caused widespread shock in the town.
Gardaí are investigating the circumstances surrounding the discovery to the bodies at a premises at Centaur Street at about 1.30pm yesterday.
A member of the Clerkin family who own the Stonehaven BB is believed to have found the bodies.
A shotgun was found at the scene and gardaí confirmed that both victims appeared to have sustained shotgun wounds.
The man and woman checked into the BB on Saturday and were seen socialising around Carlow on Saturday and Sunday nights. The last reported sighting of them was at about 10pm on Sunday.
Detectives are now hoping to speak to anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious in the vicinity of the BB, or in the Centaur Street area near the town centre of Carlow, between 10pm on Sunday and 1pm yesterday.
A preliminary autopsy was carried yesterday evening by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis. The street was sealed off to traffic by gardaí while members of the technical bureau conducted a forensic examination of the terraced house.
Van towed by gardaí
It is understood a black van, with an Offaly registration, was towed by gardaí from a nearby parking space yesterday afternoon.
Guests of the BB obtain their room keys from the Stonehaven Lounge across the street, also owned by the Clerkin family, and can use the kitchen facility to make their breakfast.
One local man, Kevin Coakley, said the man and woman were having a drink in the lounge on Sunday evening and that he also saw them on Saturday. “I just got a quick glance at them. It’s very sad for their families, the ones who are left behind.”
The BB is owned by Delia Clerkin and one of her sons, Thomas Clerkin, didn’t want to comment when approached while working in the Stonehaven Lounge across the road from the scene. “I only came on duty at 3pm so don’t know anything about what happened,” he said.
Supt Gerry Redmond confirmed that the dead man was found downstairs in the BB while the woman was found upstairs. He said it was too early to speculate on how long the bodies may have lain in position before being found.
A local man who lived at the other end of the street, Philip Morrissey, said everyone was “shocked and depressed” by the events, which happened three days after the body of a Co Laois man, Colm Kavanagh, was found in a room at the Talbot Hotel on the edge of Carlow.
Local councillor Walter Lacey said no one could remember a similar-type killing taking place in the area in the past. “It’s only when something like this hits your own town that you see the reality of it and it has caused great shock in the community and among the people of Carlow. My sympathies go to the families of the deceased.”
The bodies were removed from the scene at 7.30pm.