GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the fatal shooting of a man in his friend’s Dublin apartment are trying to establish if the gun was discharged when a minor row at a small social gathering escalated.
A suspect in the case was being questioned last night after handing himself in to gardaí. Detectives believe he was one of four people in the apartment when Eddie Flanagan (49), Primrose Grove, Coolock, Dublin, died.
The investigating team are still trying to establish the sequence of events that led to the fatal shooting.
The incident occurred at about 10.30pm on Wednesday at an apartment at Larch Hill, Coolock Lane. Neighbours rang gardaí to report hearing what they suspected was gunfire. They reported hearing two shots and seeing people running from the apartment block.
Paramedics treated Mr Flanagan at the scene but he was pronounced dead just after midnight.
A preliminary examination was carried out at the apartment by a pathologist yesterday morning. Mr Flanagan’s body was then taken to the city morgue in nearby Marino for a postmortem.
The Irish Timesunderstands the examination found Mr Flanagan had been shot in the head.
The apartment where the shooting occurred and the car park in the Larch Hill block were searched and forensically examined by members of the Garda Technical Bureau. A handgun was found discarded in undergrowth close to the apartment block.
They now think Mr Flanagan and at least three other men gathered at the apartment in Larch Hill, where one of the men lived, on Wednesday night and had been drinking for several hours before the fatal shots were discharged.
Detectives are trying to piece together the circumstances of a gun being produced but they are working on the theory that a row preceded the shooting.
Gardaí believe the men in the apartment then panicked and fled, with one of them discarding the gun. One of the men yesterday presented himself for questioning to gardaí at Coolock station.
The Dublin man in his 50s, who knew Mr Flanagan, was detained under section 50 of the Offences Against the State Act. He was taken to Ballymun Garda station, where he can be held for up to seven days without charge.
Family members arrived at the scene yesterday afternoon and left flowers at the entrance to the apartment block. Visibly upset, they left after a short time having spoken briefly to gardaí.
Local residents at the gated development, which has a security man on duty every evening, were questioned by gardaí yesterday.
One resident, who did not wish to be named, said she heard two shots and called the Garda, but did not go near the apartment herself. “I was too afraid,” she said.
Nadine Roberts said the incident was worrying. “It is normally very, very quite along here.
“If there is any noise it is usually late-night parties and you only have to call the security man and he asks them to quiet down.”