The garda who fired the fatal shot at John Carthy after a 25-hour siege at Abbeylara last April told the inquest he acted to save the lives of his colleagues.
Det Garda Aidan McCabe, a member of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), said that when Mr Carthy emerged from his house at 5.45 p.m. on April 20th and walked up the road in "a menacing and purposeful manner" he believed he was about to shoot at uniformed gardai.
Counsel for the Carthy family, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, said Det Garda McCabe could not be certain Mr Carthy was going to shoot anyone. Mr Carthy had not fired a shot once he had left the house, even when he was fired at. Mr Gageby suggested he was going up the road to find his sister, Marie.
Det Garda McCabe said Mr Carthy was told by the ERU negotiator, Det Sgt Michael Jackson, that his sister was present to talk to him but had not been told exactly where she was. He said when Mr Carthy left his house with his gun he did not consider him an "immediate threat" as his gun was open. He shouted to Mr Carthy that there were armed gardai present and he should put down his gun. Mr Carthy walked out of his driveway and emerged on to the roadway with his gun closed.
Det Garda McCabe said Mr Carthy then opened the doubl-barrel gun, took out a cartridge, threw it away and closed the gun. He walked up the road towards Abbeylara in "a menacing and purposeful manner" with his gun in a ready-to-fire position, and with his right hand around the trigger area.
The witness said that there were plain-clothes and uniformed gardai ahead of Mr Carthy and he was concerned for their safety. He saw gardai run for cover and got his Uzi sub-machinegun ready.
"I believed at this stage his next action would be to pull the trigger and kill or seriously injure the gardai in front of him," Det Garda McCabe said.
He repeatedly called on Mr Carthy to put the gun down. He decided that "all other legal means" of stopping Mr Carthy had been exhausted.
Det Garda McCabe said he was about to shoot "to achieve my legal objective" of stopping Mr Carty killing anyone when he heard a shot. His colleague Det Sgt Jackson, the chief negotiator at the scene, had hit Mr Carthy's thigh. Mr Carthy kept walking and Det Garda McCabe was about to fire again when he heard a second shot which also hit Mr Carthy's left thigh, also fired by Det Sgt Jackson. He said that Mr Carthy continued "with menace and purpose".
"To me it was obvious he was about to pull the trigger," he said. He fired one shot at Mr Carthy's torso area, but Mr Carthy continued towards the uniformed gardai in a "menacing and purposeful" manner.
He still feared for their lives. He fired another shot at the torso area and Mr Carthy fell. Det Garda McCabe approached him with caution and moved the gun from his side.
Earlier, he said that while on watch outside the Carthy house he had to duck several times when Mr Carthy levelled his gun at him. At one stage pellets flew over his head as he ducked behind the front garden wall.
Cross-examined by Mr Gageby, he said he and other members had not discussed their statements. Mr Gageby suggested they were very similar. Det Garda McCabe said everyone would see what happened in the same way.
He said it was "rather traumatic" for him to have shot Mr Carthy and it would not have been to his benefit for what had happened to have been discussed openly.