Gsoc investigation after man is shot by garda at checkpoint

GARDAÍ have appealed for witnesses and are trawling social media posts after a man was shot by an armed member of the Regional Support Unit (RSU) when a car allegedly failed to stop at a checkpoint in a Cork town.

A man in his early 40s sustained a non-life threatening injury to his arm after an incident near the Spa Road in Mallow shortly before 9pm on Thursday.

The man – who is from Cork city – was in a black Volkswagen car which apparently failed to stop at a Garda checkpoint manned by uniformed officers and members of the armed RSU.

Gardaí confirmed a single shot was fired by an RSU officer at the scene.

It is understood the man feared one of his Garda colleagues was about to be struck by the vehicle.

The injured man was treated at the scene by paramedics before later being assessed in hospital.

The incident unfolded after gardaí moved to stop a vehicle near the Spa Road, just 200 metres from Mallow town centre.

A checkpoint had been mounted by gardaí acting on intelligence in relation to a drugs investigation.

The incident unfolded between a busy filling station and a popular ethnic food shop on the main road leading to Fermoy.

Two men were subsequently arrested and taken to Mallow garda station under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.

They can he held for 24 hours.

“Gardaí are investigating all the circumstances of this incident at this time,” a Garda spokesperson said.

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) was notified, as is routine in such cases.

Gsoc is trawling CCTV security camera footage from a number of business premises in the area.

They appealed to anyone who witnessed the incident or for drivers who passed the area and whose vehicles are equipped with dash-cams to contact them.

Multiple social media postings are also being studied.