Man raids petrol station with gun, crashes two getaway cars

A man is being treated in hospital after an armed robbery and hiijacking at a petrol station in Co Laois overnight.

It happened at about half past midnight, at Emo Filling Station in Mountrath, near Abbeyleix, when a masked man entered the Emo Filling Station and threatened a staff member with a gun.

He made off with a quantity of cash, but subsequently crashed his getaway car outside a house in Derrykearn.

When the occupants of the house checked the well-being of the driver, a shot was fired.

The suspect then fled in a second car stolen from the occupants of the house, but collided with a tree around one and a half kilometres from the original collision.

The suspect was removed to Tullamore General Hospital where he is described as being in a serious condition.

Investigations are ongoing.