Second Arrest Over Cork Pub Shooting

A second man has been arrested over the unlawful possession of firearm in a pub in County Cork.

Gardaí made the arrest yesterday evening. He is aged in his 30s and, according to Gardaí, is held in connection with the unlawful possession of a firearm at Blarney Sreet in Cork on May 21.

The man is currently detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, at Gurranabraher Garda Station.

Yesterday Gardaí announced a man was being detained in Co Cork in connection with an incident in a city centre pub when Gardaí shot a man for refusing to surrender a firearm.

Gardaí said today they had arrested a 29-year-old man shortly before midday in the south of the city.

He is being held for the illegal possession of a firearm at Gurranebraher Garda station, where he can be detained for up to seven days, according to a Garda spokesman.

During last month's incident, a man entered the Mo Chuisle Bar near the bottom of Blarney Street on the northside of the city armed with a loaded shotgun and demanded to see the owner of the pub.

Gardaí were alerted and members of the armed regional support unit were mobilised. They entered the pub where it is understood that three armed members of the unit challenged a man and ordered him to drop his weapon.

The man refused to do so and one of the officers discharged a single shot from his Sig 9mm automatic weapon, wounding the man in the stomach whereupon the loaded shotgun was confiscated and the man was rushed to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.

The incident was the second in recent months in which shots were fired at the pub. On October 5th, 2008 a man armed with a sawn-off shotgun fired a shot into the bar which was full of customers.

(DW/GK)