US officer who shot Irishman dead resigns

THE US police officer investigated for shooting dead a young Irishman and sexually abusing a girl has resigned. The resignation of the Oregon officer comes as relatives of Andrew Hanlon consider alternative legal action over the fatal shooting of the young man.

Silverton police officer Tony Gonzalez shot the unarmed 20-year-old Dundrum man five times, while responding to a call relating to disturbance at a home.

The officer was cleared by a grand jury of any criminal wrongdoing in the fatal shooting last month. He still, however, faces separate charges of child sex abuse.

The officer’s resignation comes as relatives of the dead Irishman consider a civil lawsuit over the shooting. Andrew Hanlon’s family welcomed news of the resignation. Grandmother Selena Hannon confirmed the family were in discussion with solicitors.

According to US reports, Gonzalez was due to take unpaid leave of absence last week, but instead voluntarily resigned. Video footage of the officer’s interview over the shooting by fellow police has emerged on the internet. In the interview, the 108kg (17-stone) former cage-fighter describes the scene in Silverton when he approached Mr Hanlon on the night of June 30.

The officer breaks down crying and claims he could not see what was in the Irish man’s hands before he opened fire. He tells investigating officers how he shouted at Mr Hanlon to “get on the ground” several times.

The Dublin man crouched, but then jumped up and starting coming towards him, Gonzalez claims in the video on the website statesmanjournal.com.

“And I thought ‘I need to holster and grab a Taser’ and I knew I didn’t have time. I thought about holstering [the gun], but I didn’t want him to grab my hand with the gun in it and I even thought about tossing it and going hands-on, but I couldn’t see his hands.

“I shot him, I shot him... I kept firing until he stopped. He just wouldn’t stop.”