A 33-YEAR-OLD man who walked into a packed pub armed with a pump-action shotgun was under arrest in hospital last night.
The Limerick man, who is known to gardaí, walked into Quilty's pub in the Thomondgate area of the city at 8.30pm on Sunday armed with the loaded firearm.
He was injured when a number of customers who were in the pub knocked him to the ground in an effort to disarm him.
Gardaí confirmed last night that the man, who was arrested at the scene, was armed with a pump-action shotgun which was loaded with three cartridges.
A fourth cartridge, which had been in the gun, fell out of the weapon when the gunman was tackled to the ground. It was found on the floor.
The man who lives in the Weston area of the city was taken to Henry Street Garda station, but transferred to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital after complaining of injuries.
Gardaí were at the hospital with the man last night, and it is expected he will be returned to Henry Street Garda station for questioning when he is discharged from hospital.
Between 25 and 30 people were in the bar at the time, and gardaí said yesterday it was too early to speculate on who the intended target was.
However, speculation is rife locally that a 21-year-old man who was in the pub at the time was the intended target.
The man, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest on Sunday night, was seriously injured in a shooting in the St Mary's Park area of the city last September when he was targeted by a gunman just yards from his home.
Gardaí will examine CCTV footage which they have taken from the pub to help them with their inquiries.
A local city councillor who once ran a pub in the Thomondgate area of the city yesterday praised the bravery of the customers in Quilty's bar.
"He [the gunman] is the person that has shown little or no regard for life or limb, and I'm glad this man was apprehended," said Kevin Kiely.
"You can't walk into a public bar with a firearm and expect a situation where people won't turn hostile.
"What people did was they disarmed him in order to protect themselves."
Meanwhile, gardaí in Limerick are investigating a separate incident on the south side of the city on Saturday night where a woman claimed a man brandishing a firearm threatened her.
The woman, who is a relative of murdered crime boss Kieran Keane, claimed that a man who pulled up in a car armed with a gun threatened her as she left a house in the area. She quickly left the scene in her car.
Gardaí say no shots were discharged in the incident.