By Paddy Clancy

POLICE have moved swiftly to investigate the shooting by one of their own men of a gunman at the end of a 22-hour siege in the quiet market town of Gort, Co. Galway.

Just 40 minutes after the end of the siege on Monday night, RTE’s 9 p.m. main evening television news quoted Garda (police) sources in its report that the siege ceased when officers used what was described as “non-lethal” weaponry to disable the man.

There was no mention of live ammunition having been fired, although it was reported that the man, 40-year-old Anthony Burke, was taken to hospital for treatment. Gardai indicated there had been a satisfactory end to the siege.

But 15 minutes after the report was broadcast senior officers admitted at a special media briefing that one officer had fired a live round and struck the gunman in the chest or shoulder. He was said to be “critical” in University College Hospital, Galway. Later his condition was said to be serious but stable.

The confusion over the stand-off during which shotgun pellets were fired from the house at police vehicles and street lights shot out one by one – although nobody was injured – has resonances of what’s known in Ireland as the “Abbeylara shooting.”

That was in April, 2000, when mentally disturbed John Carthy was shot dead by a cop as he walked with a shotgun from his home at the end of a 25-hour siege.

Taoiseach(Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern apologized to the Carthy family following publication less than three months ago of an official report that heavily criticized police management of that stand-off.

Ahern said lessons must be learned from the “important” report of Mr. Justice Robert Barr, who listed a series of errors by senior officers during the siege at Abbeylara, Co. Longford.

The Gort siege, during which 30 neighborhood families were evacuated from their homes near the town center, ended when Burke emerged without warning from a two-story terraced house. He was reported to have surrendered one weapon first before firing at cops with the other.

They responded by firing a number of non-lethal rounds at first. But as Burke continued to shoot, an officer from the elite Emergency Response Unit then fired a live rifle round into his upper chest and shoulder.

Garda Press spokesman Kevin Donohoe described the outcome of the incident as “unfortunate” but “proportionate.”

Donohoe said that Gardai challenged the man but he continued to act in a very threatening manner. He said that a “less non-lethal option, known as a beanbag round” was then used. Burke was hit a number of times.

According to Donohoe, Burke continued to behave threateningly and an officer then fired a round from a .308 rifle and the man was injured in the chest-shoulder area.

Although officers had been negotiating with Burke, they were taken by surprise when he suddenly walked from the house. They also still hadn’t established why he barricaded himself in it with the guns and about 400 rounds of ammunition.

Donohoe said the reasons for Burke’s behavior were still unclear and officers were unlikely to be any wiser without interviewing him – something unlikely to happen while he is in hospital.

Donohoe confirmed that Chief Superintendent Kieran Kenny from the neighboring Sligo-Leitrim Garda division has been appointed to head an internal investigation of the incident.

Two other official probes were also launched – one a criminal investigation, the other an inquiry by the Garda Inspectorate which reviews Garda practices and procedures in similar incidents.

There was also pressure for an independent probe. Sinn Fein said the public no longer accepted police investigations into themselves.

But Justice Minister Michael McDowell vigorously backed the role of what he called brave Gardai in the Gort siege.

“It’s a very grave matter when someone shoots at members of the Gardai. It is also a very grave matter to endanger the lives of other citizens. The Gardai are there to protect us all from those incidents, to make sure there aren’t innocent victims,” he said.

McDowell said those demanding an independent investigation would be asking very different questions of him and others if he had to visit the widow of any officer who might have been killed in the siege.

It’s thought that the siege is linked to a disagreement between Burke and his partner, local supermarket worker Mags Corless. She was seen fleeing, distressed, with her children and escaping over the back wall Sunday night.

There was no indication that all was not well within the household when she organized a surprise 40th birthday party for Burke only last week.

Burke was in mourning for his father Kevin who died a few weeks ago. He’s thought to also have been upset after attending the funeral of the mother of a close friend only a few hours before the siege started.