Scenes of mayhem and terror as shots fired

THERE were scenes of mayhem and sheer terror when a lone gunman fired shots in the Fairgreen Shopping Centre, Carlow on Sunday evening before leaving the building and fatally shooting himself.

The man, known to be Evan Fitzgerald from Portrition just outside the village of Kiltegan on the Carlow/Wicklow border, walked into the shopping centre just after 6pm on Sunday evening, went upstairs and took a shotgun out of his bag. He then went downstairs and began discharging the firearm into the air as he walked through the main shopping centre, before then walking into Tesco, where he let off several more gunshots.

Mr Fitzgerald (22) then left the shopping centre and was outside when he fired another shot. Pain-clothes armed gardaí approached the shooter and drew their official firearms, identifying themselves as armed gardaí. Unfortunately, Mr Fitzgerald turned his gun onto himself and killed himself.

Families and young people in the centre at the time managed to leave the building safely through the main door and emergency exits with the help of two security men and Tesco staff. Gardaí confirmed that a young girl, in the shopping centre with her parents, suffered a minor leg injury when she fell while running from the scene.

Detectives observed a bottle of fluid strapped to Mr Fitzgerald’s leg, therefore his body remained at the scene as the defence forces’ Explosive Ordnance Disposal team examined the unknown device. Following examination, the EOD team declared the scene safe.

John Brophy, manager of Fairgreen Shopping Centre, said that the entire incident happened “in a flash”.

“It happened in a flash. It happened in minutes. There was no warning or shouting before he let off the shots. It’s still a crime scene so I haven’t been able to get to the shop floor yet. Someone lost their life here so I’d appreciate it if people were sensitive around that. It was shocking, so shocking,” said Mr Brophy.

“This was meant to be a normal day out on a bank holiday weekend. This was a terrifying experience for every person that was present in the Fairgreen Shopping Centre,” said Assistant Garda Commissioner Paula Hilman at a media briefing yesterday, Monday. Superintendent Anthony Farrell told The Nationalist: “Something like this really impacts on people. People got an awful fright. The gardaí reacted very quickly so that by the time the man (Mr Fitzgerald) left the shopping centre, they were there.

“We had unarmed, uniformed gardaí as well as members of the armed detective unit. Without any fear for themselves, they selflessly put their lives in danger, to protect their community. I really couldn’t be any prouder of them,” he said. “I’m also very conscious of the victim’s family and have opened lines of communication with them. This is a particularly complex investigation and we’re trying to establish the circumstances that led to this incident,” added Supt Farrell.

Mr Fitzgerald’s body remained outside the shopping centre overnight and was then removed from the scene on Monday for a state post mortem. Gardaí are liaising with his family. The post mortem will be carried out by state pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers. The Carlow county coroner has been notified and An Garda Síochána will assist in preparing an investigation file for a coroner’s inquest.

On Monday, the HSE provided psychosocial support for those who may be traumatised by what they saw.  Fairgreen Shopping Centre is expected to be open for business today, Tuesday, while at the time of going to press it was not yet known when Tesco will be released back to management.