Killers ‘knew victim was a garda’
It also emerged yesterday that they held his partner, Detective Garda Joe Ryan, at gunpoint and threatened him as they robbed the Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgan, near Dundalk on Friday night, getting away with just €4,000
“This gang just didn’t turn up on the day and say to themselves ‘we’ll have a go at robbing the credit union’,” said a senior garda.
“This garda escort was being done for a long time, it was a pretty regular occurrence. It had been going on for a number of years. They would have done surveillance and have known that.”
He said no armed robber would not spot an unmarked garda car.
When the detectives pulled into the car park at 9.30pm to escort the cash delivery, they spotted at least three men in a vehicle in the car park and another man standing beside it.
“Det Garda Donohoe got out of the car to make an inquiry, but he never got the chance. He was shot dead. He never even got to draw his weapon. This is murder, cold-blooded murder. There’s no reason to it, no advantage to them. No logic whatsoever. It’s just mindboggling.”
The garda said the gang could have decided to disable the two gardaí: “They could have told them this is a hold-up, get on the ground, take their weapons, shoot out the tyres of the car.”
The garda said certain armed robbery gangs had a threshold of violence.
“This is an all new level of mindless violence towards a police officer, like what has been seen in the North.”
Last November, prison officer David Black was ambushed on a motorway in Co Armagh and shot dead by dissident republicans. A recently formed alliance of dissident terror groups, including the Dublin Real IRA, claimed responsibility. Suspects in the Republic have been arrested in relation to that.
Investigators are keeping an open mind on the gang in this case. They are compiling lists of criminals known to have a propensity for a “high level of violence” and who have carried out robberies before. They will try and identify what criminals have suddenly gone missing.
Some officers suspect that the level of violence and the closeness to the border might point to a dissident group. The PSNI set up an investigation straight away and are liaising with gardaí. They were last night investigating the scene of a burnt out car in south Armagh.
Some sources said the fact the murder weapon was a sawn-off shotgun suggested criminals, as dissident republican tended to have better weaponry, but other sources warned not to put too much stock in the type of gun used.
The same credit union was robbed a year and a half ago, when €62,000 was taken by raiders brandishing shotguns. That also took place on a Friday night before the garda escort had arrived.
The only description of the car used last Friday is of a dark-coloured vehicle. But detectives suspect the car would have been driven erratically and at high speed afterwards and are hopeful of some leads.
The M1 motorway is nearby, allowing quick access both south and north and west towards Monaghan.
More than 100 gardaí are involved in the investigation, with many coming in to assist on their rest days or from holidays.
Senior gardaí said that the investigation will be on a par with the massive Garda operation put in place following the murder of Veronica Guerin in Aug 1996.
This operation dragged in members of every drug and crime gang in much of the State and halted much of the drug trade for months. As a result of the investigation, a number of members of the gang turned State witnesses.
“We saw with the Gilligan gang some members were not willing to go down,” said a garda. “When these guys are caught — and they will be caught — they will get 40 years. That might focus their minds.”
