Man points sawn-off shotgun at pub customers and staff
The man pointed the gun at customers and staff and threatened to shoot, but he was disarmed by gardaí who arrived within minutes of receiving a phone call.
The gunman, aged 20, had been refused entry into The Swallows pub in Clondalkin, west Dublin, at around 7.30pm on Saturday.
The youth, reportedly well-known in the Deansrath area, was already barred from the pub.
Yesterday, sources in the bar said a scuffle broke out at the doors of the pub when bouncers refused the man entry.
Staff locked the doors and the youth left.
Bar staff then rang Clondalkin garda station and a pub source said: “We informed the gardaí and told them he had gone to the chip shop across the road. He came back within two minutes with a gun.”
The man burst through the pub doors wielding a sawn-off shotgun but a team of gardaí, including armed and unarmed officers, arrived within minutes and confronted the gunman.
In a statement yesterday the Garda Press Office said: “A 20-year-old man was arrested following an incident at a public house in Clondalkin, Dublin shortly after 7pm last night where a sawn -off shotgun was produced and pointed at staff and customers.
“Gardaí responded to a call and tackled a man, recovering a sawn-off shotgun in the process.”
Bar staff praised the quick and brave response of gardaí. Pub sources was the incident was “very frightening” for both customers and staff.
A garda spokesman said the man was detained under section 30 of the Offences against the State Act which allows for a maximum detention period of three days.
Local Labour councillor Robert Dowds said the incident underlined the problem of gun crime.
“A few months ago I had the same experience in another pub in Clondalkin. It’s extremely frightening from the point of view of everyone present. It’s frightening to see the increase in the use of firearms,” he said.
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