Gardaí tackle armed raider in pub

A PUB owner yesterday praised the bravery of two gardaí who disarmed a raider brandishing a sawn-off shotgun.

The gunman pointed the gun at one of the unarmed officers but the garda disabled him without a shot being fired.

The robber held the manager of the Villager Pub in Chapelizod, west Dublin, at gunpoint during a hold-up at closing time early yesterday morning.

Gary Gorevan, co-owner of the pub, whose brother was also detained by the gunman, heaped praise on the two gardaí yesterday.

“I can’t find the words to describe the bravery of the guards. They were unarmed and basically took on a guy with a sawn-off shotgun fully loaded, who basically had the manager pinned down in the cash office, without hesitation or thoughts of their own safety,” he said.

The two officers, Garda Gavin Ryan and Garda Michael McNulty, in their 20s, were praised by their commanding officer, Superintendent John Quirke of Clondalkin Garda Station.

“He had a loaded firearm and these two unarmed gardaí went in and tackled him without hesitation.”

He said the gardaí’s primary concern was the welfare of those in the pub. “They knew people were being held and the primary concern of An Garda Síochána is safety of another person,” said Supt Quirke.

Mr Gorevan said his brother saw a man in the rear beer garden with a gun.

“He ran down through the bar, through the front door. There was a girl on the phone, he took it and dialled 999. Within a minute, there must have been a car in the area, and the gardaí arrived. At this stage the front door had locked, because it’s a spring-loaded mechanism.”

He said the raider got the manager to open the till, but was not happy with the amount inside. “He brought him into the cash office and made him open the safe, but there’s a time-lock system, so he had to sit and wait for 15 minutes.”

Mr Gorevan said the gardaí went through a neighbour’s house and climbed a 20ft wall and down into the beer garden in the dark.

“They had to find their way through the bar and tackle the guy. Luckily, everyone went home without injury.”

He said it was “very traumatic” for the manager, who was subjected to abuse and threats and held at gunpoint for eight minutes.

Gardaí Ryan and McNulty yesterday questioned the man under section 30 of the Offences against the State Act.

John Egan of the Garda Representative Association said it highlighted the dangers faced by frontline gardaí.