GARDA ‘LUCKY’ HE ESCAPED BULLET

A BULLET narrowly missed a garda’s head after a man on a hunting trip fired a shot at a patrol car in a rural town yesterday.

The garda was about to get out of his patrol car to confront the rifle-wielding man in Glenties, Co. Donegal, when a shot was fired through his window, passed his ear and went out another window of his car.

The gunman, who is aged 20 and from the midlands, was on a deer-hunting trip with his brother and father before the shooting occurred shortly after midnight.

‘This man started firing indiscriminately down the main street,’ a source told the Irish Mail on Sunday.

‘He shot at a house and a car with a man sitting in it.

‘He then shot at the patrol car. The garda was sitting in the car and the shot went by his ear, in one window and out the other.

‘It is down to pure luck that the bullet didn’t hit this garda in the head.’

The man was arrested and taken to Ballyshannon Garda Station where he is detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939. It is believed he was drinking and may have taken another substance before the incident.

The man’s father and brother were also arrested after they were taken out of their beds and into custody.

A number of Garda units attended the scene on Mill Road.

A rifle, a hunting knife and a number of rounds of ammunition were seized as part of the investigation.

Gardaí preserved a number of scenes for examination following the incident and enquiries are ongoing. No shots were fired by gardaí during the incident and nobody was injured in the incident.

Garda Brendan O’Connor, Garda Representative Association central executive committee member for Donegal, paid tribute to the ‘courage and dedication’ of the garda who was narrowly missed by the bullet and other members who attended the scene.

He also commended the ‘restraint’ shown by gardaí in bringing the incident to an end peacefully.