Businessman caught up in Longford shooting
A BUSINESSMAN from North Cork who went to retrieve his truck being repaired in County Longford ended up involved in an incident that saw a garda shoot at a dog, only to hit a man in the leg.
The shooting took place shortly before 6pm on Monday at a property in the Longford townland of Bolie, between Edgeworthstown and Granard.
It is understood that an armed garda sergeant arrived at the scene after a member of the public called Granard Garda Station claiming that he was unable to get his van back.
The caller had driven from Newmarket to retrieve the vehicle, but when he arrived in Bolie a confrontation broke out and gardaí were called.
Media reports said the North Cork man had replied to a Done Deal ad offering engine repairs and when he went to pick up his repaired truck a row broke out. When gardaí arrived at the scene, the confrontation became more heated and a woman allegedly “pulled a slash hook” on the Cork man.
A BUSINESSMAN from Newmarket who went to retrieve his van, which was being repaired - in Co Longford - ended up involved in an incident that saw a garda shoot at a dog and hitting a man in the leg.
Subsequently, a garda sergeant involved in the confrontation was under armed protection after receiving online threats. A number of threats appeared online, apparently giving details of the officer’s rural home as well as comments such as “go get him”.
Armed gardaí were deployed to the sergeant’s home on Monday night, just hours after the shooting incident, as the threats were deemed to be “very significant”.
“The situation is deemed so serious that armed gardaí were deployed to his family home on Monday night and this policing plan is ongoing,” the source said last night.
The shooting took place shortly before 6pm on Monday at a property in the Co Longford townland of Bolie, which is between Edgeworthstown and Granard.
The Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) is investigating the incident, while the scene of the shooting, in which a 28-year-old man received minor injuries to his leg, remained sealed off yesterday.
The injured man has been named locally as Co Longford man Ned ‘Blondie’ Stokes.
During the course of the incident, it is understood the garda sergeant discharged his firearm in the direction of an aggressive “guard dog” that he felt was about to attack him. It is understood the dog was killed, and Mr Stokes was injured during the same incident.
However, it has since emerged that investigators couldn’t find the dog’s body, and there were claims that the animal had not been shot.
It is understood that the armed garda sergeant arrived at the scene after a member of the public called Granard garda station claiming that he was unable to get his van back after it had been repaired by associates of Mr Stokes.
The caller had driven to Co Longford from Newmarket, Co Cork to retrieve the vehicle, but when he arrived in Bolie a confrontation broke out and gardaí were called to the scene.
The incident is alleged to have started after an ad was placed on Done Deal offering to refit car engines. The Newmarket man answered the advertisement and a lorry was sent down to pick up his Ford Transit pick-up.
“The recondition of the man’s engine was finished,” Sonny Stokes told The Irish Sun. ““In total it was going to cost €1,850, including the collection.”
Subsequently, the Newmarket man arrived with his wife in a Toyota Land Cruiser.
When gardaí arrived at the scene, the confrontation became more heated and a woman “pulled a slash hook” on the van’s owner, from Newmarket.
The weapon was retrieved but shortly afterwards the garda sergeant discharged his firearm, apparently killing the dog and injuring Mr Stokes.
Some of the confrontation was filmed on a mobile phone and this footage has been widely circulated on social media.
There have been no arrests so far in the case.