THE Irish National Liberation Army has claimed that the armed robber who died yesterday after being shot by gardai on Wednesday was one of its members.
The outlawed republican splinter group, which gardai say has probably only a handful of members left in the Republic, also issued a veiled threat to gardai. The death of its "volunteer" would not be "forgotten," it said.
The INLA issued a statement yesterday through its political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, accusing the gardai of a "state execution."
A senior Garda officer has been appointed to investigate the circumstances in which Mr John Morris (26), from Tallaght, was shot.
He is understood to have been hit in the head and chest during a confrontation with two plainclothes gardai outside the Newspread magazine and newspaper distribution offices in the Goldenbridge Industrial Estate at Inchicore on Wednesday morning. He was holding a cocked handgun which is believed not to have been loaded.
Garda sources said yesterday the two officers were on duty but were not seeking that particular armed gang.
It is understood that eye witnesses have confirmed Garda reports that two plainclothes officers who confronted the robbers shouted: "Stop, armed garda," before there was a brief burst of shots.
Garda sources point out that in the circumstances there was no way of knowing that Mr Morris's weapon was not loaded.
In a statement sent to news organisations yesterday by the IRSP, an unnamed member of the organisation claimed Mr Morris as an INLA volunteer and said there had been no "shootout" or "armed resistance" from its members. "It will not be forgotten," the statement added.
Mr Morris is believed to have been part of a small group of people loosely associated with the INLA in the Tallaght area. He,had a criminal record for minor offences.
Local gardai said he had graduated from involvement in minor crime as a teenager.
Garda Patrick Morrissey was shot dead by INLA members during an armed robbery in Co Meath in 1985. It is also suspected that an exINLA member was part of the IRA gang which shot Garda Jerry McCabe in Limerick a year ago.
Mr Morris is the eighth person to be shot dead by gardai in 15 years.