Death of lecturer who shot himself in GP surgery 'personal tragedy', say gardaí

The man was alone in a room at the Mallow Primary Healthcare Centre when he shot himself.

Gardaí are treating as a personal tragedy the death of a university lecturer who shot himself in a doctor’s surgery in north Cork.

A post mortem examination took place on Wednesday on the body of the man who died in a room at the Primary Healthcare Centre in Mallow on Tuesday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It is understood that he was in possession of a legally held licensed firearm - believed to have been a pistol.

Detectives, who will prepare a file for the coroner’s court in due course, will include statements from those who were the last to see the man in the moments before the tragic event, and from his wife, who accompanied him to the healthcare centre but who was not in the room when the tragedy unfolded.

They are also expected to examine his medical files to see if they can shed any light on why the tragedy unfolded.

Shortly after 6pm on Tuesday, the man and his wife arrived at the Mallow Primary Healthcare facility, which houses a number of GP practices and the out-of-hours SouthDoc service.

Gardaí were alerted at around 6.20pm that there was a man in the building armed with a suspected pistol.

Members of the armed regional support unit were alerted and were on route when the gun was discharged. It’s believed the man was alone in a room when he shot himself.

He received immediate medical assistance but was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.

The scene was sealed off, a firearm was recovered and it will be analysed by forensic experts as part of the garda investigation.

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