An hour before he was shot dead John Carthy taunted members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit, forming a cordon around his family home, that "they weren't real men", the inquest into his death has heard.
An ERU member, Det Garda William Sisk, who took up position at a front pillar of the house about four hours before Mr Carthy was killed, said yesterday that he believed the gardai at the scene were in "actual danger" from Mr Carthy when he was shot.
He told the inquest, presided over by Dr Gerry McDonagh, that Mr Carthy constantly levelled his shotgun at him and taunted armed gardai with calls of "come on, pull the fucking trigger, what kind of men are you?" At 4.30 p.m., Mr Carthy called out: "Come in and get me. You're not real men."
He threw a saucepan and food out of a window and later fired a shot at one of the blocks on the wall, which fell on to the head of the negotiator, Det Sgt Jackson.
Det Garda Sisk said he moved into position at 1.30 p.m. on Thursday April 20th and was placed alongside Det Garda Aidan McCabe and Det Sgt Jackson, who fired the shots at Mr Carthy. After the fourth shot "he dropped the gun, turned left to face me with his hands outstretched, and fell to the ground".
Det Garda Sisk said he then checked Mr Carthy for a pulse, but could not detect one.
He described how he saw Mr Carthy level his shotgun at the group he believed contained plain-clothes gardai, uniformed gardai and civilians, and how Mr Carthy appeared to "trace" them with the gun as they ran for cover. "I believe after he observed uniformed members at the outside cordon he crouched forward in a firing position."
Replying to Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for the Carthy family, he said there were about two seconds between the first and fourth shots and Mr Carthy had taken approximately three paces.
Earlier, he told of arriving from Dublin at 12.45 p.m. as part of a three-member group of reinforcements. He spoke with Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey and Supt Michael Byrne at the scene and said he took "special note" of where the uniformed gardai were before moving to Mr Carthy's house, where he was briefed by Det Sgt Gerard Russell.
His role was to observe Mr Carthy through a 1 1/2-inch space between the front pillars and the block erected on the wall.
Det Garda Sisk said he told the negotiators when Mr Carthy had his gun by his side and it was safe to stand up and converse with him. He also informed the other ERU members of Mr Carthy's position in the house.
At around 5.45 p.m. Det Garda Finnegan sent a radio message to say that John Carthy was out of the house and Det Garda Sisk said he saw him come around from the side with the gun "broken".
"I could see it was fully loaded." He said he shouted: "John - armed gardai, drop the gun."
Mr Carthy paused for a second before moving along the wall and "quickly" down the driveway towards the road. He again paused at the end of the driveway. "He looked at us, then looked towards gardai at the command post."
He flicked a cartridge from the gun, closed the gun and put it under his arm. He continued to walk towards the other gardai before four shots were fired.
The inquest continues today.