A MAN has died in Co Tipperary after reportedly opening fire on gardaí with a shotgun moments earlier.
It is believed the man had failed to stop at a routine Garda checkpoint in Newport at about 7.30pm, before gardaí gave chase in a patrol car.
The man, from Limerick, who was said to have been driving in an erratic manner, was pulled over by gardaí on the Newport to Thurles Road, also known as the Old Cork Road, shortly before 8pm last night.
When gardaí approached the man’s vehicle he is said to have fired a number of shots at gardaí before turning the gun on himself.
An ambulance crew from Limerick was dispatched to Newport but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
It is understood the armed Garda wing, the Regional Support Unit, was dispatched from Limerick as part of the Garda response to last night’s incident.
The shooting was immediately referred to the Office of the Garda Ombudsman. “Our investigators will have to examine the scene independent of the gardaí. They will then meet with gardaí and conduct their own interviews,” a spokesman for the office said.