The Emergency Response Unit at the siege in Abbeylara had no other option but to shoot Mr John Carthy, who had emerged from his house carrying a loaded shotgun, an ERU officer told the scene commander immediately afterwards, the Barr tribunal heard yesterday.
Mr Carthy died on April 20th, 2000, after he was shot by the ERU outside his house.
The tactical leader of the ERU, Det Sgt Gerard Russell, told the tribunal that he had been about to shoot Mr Carthy himself when he heard the first shot. He was surprised Mr Carthy had been allowed to get so far up the public road without being apprehended, he said.
"I had my mind made up that the situation was so dangerous that I had to take action. I was somewhat puzzled that John had walked past the people in the area. I couldn't understand why someone didn't take action earlier. I wondered was I reading the situation right."
Directly after the shooting, Det Sgt Russell said, he was approached by the scene commander, Supt Joseph Shelly.
"I spoke to Supt Shelly after, words to the effect that my members had no other option."
Det Sgt Russell said he had wanted to keep action to a minimum and he felt that the ERU members had acted with extreme restraint. "I was conscious that John was a sick man," he said.
He said Mr Carthy had been told to put down his gun before the shooting, but had not been warned that he would be shot if he failed to comply. "I didn't hear that said, and it's not practice for members to threaten someone."
Counsel for the Carthy family, Mr Patrick Gageby, asked Det Sgt Russell if he was certain in his evidence that Mr Carthy had remained upright until the fourth and final shot hit him.
"Are you aware, Sergeant, that at the inquest the evidence of the State Pathologist, Dr Harbison, suggested that the last shot was administered when Mr Carthy was falling?" counsel asked.
Det Sgt Russell replied that he was aware but hadn't examined Dr Harbison's evidence in detail.
Later the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Barr, said it would have been "quite feasible" for the ERU member stationed at the back of the house to put cigarettes on the doorstep while Mr Carthy was in view at the front of the house.
"You would have glowed with credit with Mr Carthy, which is exactly what you wanted to do," he said. Det Sgt Russell agreed that it could have been achieved, but he would prefer if the chairman put the question to the ERU negotiator.
