Pub customers jump bar and tackle raider armed with ‘Uzi’
■ Gunman a local who had been barred but knew staff, says manager
A RAIDER who was tackled to the ground by brave customers when he allegedly tried to rob a Dublin pub used to be a regular in the bar and knew the staff by name.
Derek Foran, who is in his 30s, was due to appear before Dublin District Court this morning charged in connection with the attempted robbery at the Speaker Conolly pub on Firhouse Road, Tallaght, as it was closing on New Year’s Day.
Mr Foran who lives less than a mile away from the pub, got more resistance than he bargained for when he decided to raid the popular bar in south Dublin.
He waited in the car park until staff were locking up around midnight on Monday. But it appears he didn’t bank on customers being inside when he struck – nor did he anticipate that one of the customers was an off-duty detective.
Assistant bar manager Jason Doyle told the Irish Independent how the incident unfolded.
“One of the staff was locking up outside when the masked man approached him in the car park and stuck the gun up to his neck,” said Mr Doyle.
“He forced him back in to the pub and then he came at me with the gun, it was like an Uzi machine gun.
“There were around a dozen customers still in the pub and he shouted at everyone to get down. He shouted, ‘IRA, this is a robbery, get the f *** down’ and forced me into the kitchen area.”
He then went behind the counter and pointed the gun at Mr Doyle as he demanded the takings.
“I was down on the floor. I shouted ‘Calm down, we’ll get whatever you need, just calm down’,” he said.
The gunman went into the bar and pointed the gun at the customers and told everyone to get into the lounge.
“He had been waving the gun around at people and being threatening, and it seems three of the customers in the bar didn’t take kindly to having a gun pointed at them and decided to act,” Mr Doyle said.
“All of a sudden the three customers jumped the counter and tackled the raider to the ground, defending themselves as they did so. They eventually wrestled the gun off him and pinned him to the ground. The panic button had been activated when he came in, but I ran out from the kitchen and got the detective.”
The culprit was unmasked and another staff member said he used to be a regular in the pub and knew staff by name, but he had been barred in the past.
“He was getting around to being let back in if he came on his own and behaved,” the barman said. “I was asking him what the hell he thought he was doing, and he was all apologetic.
“He said he had ‘hit bad times’.”
Gardaí were immediately contacted and responded, arresting the man and recovering a gun and a mask. The arrested man was taken to Tallaght garda station for questioning, but also required medical attention in Tallaght Hospital for injuries he sustained while being overpowered.
The identities of the have-ago heroes were not known, and they were described as a group of men who only drank in the pub occasionally.
“The staff member who had the gun stuck up to his neck was very shaken.
“It was frightening for everyone,” Mr Doyle said.