“The world has gone mad”; locals react to Monday evening’s shooting in Carlow as Garda investigations continue
It happened at about 6pm in The Laurels off the Tullow Road
Investigations continue into a shooting at an estate on the outskirts of Carlow town.
It happened at about 6pm on Monday (5th December) evening at The Laurels, off the Tullow Road, when a car pulled up and a number of shots were fired at a house in the densely populated area.
The scene remains sealed off this morning.
Garda Response
Gardaí cordoned off the area to carry out examinations of the scene and door-to-door enquiries were carried out across yesterday (Tuesday, 6th December).
Supt Aidan Brennan told KCLR News “We are aware that there was two men in the vicinity of this house and we are aware of their identity but we’re following all avenues of enquiry in relation to a possible motive but we are taking this extremely seriously and it was utterly reckless to discharge a firearm in a built-up area of this nature”.
He adds “We have no specific description yet of a car hence we’re making enquiries in relation to CCTV footage and dashcam footage in particular that maybe give us a more exact description of a car so we’re not circulating any particular requests for a specific car, yet”.
They’ve set up an incident room at the Carlow town Garda station and would welcome calls via 059 9136620 or the Garda Confidential Line: 1800 666 111.
Local reaction
KCLR News’ Edwina Grace visited the estate yesterday and despite the incident happening amid hundreds of houses, there were few people out and about and nobody was willing to talk on the record, some merely saying it was none of their business, others that they wanted to keep a distance from what happened. One woman did point out “Things like this are always shocking”.
At nearby shopping spots, footfall was higher and some were a little more talkative; none had heard the shots fired but said even if they had, they’d likely have thought it had been fireworks. However, mothers with babies or small children in prams or buggies spoke of ‘what ifs’ – what if they’d been out with their child and got caught up in something like this? “Where would I have gone, what would I have done?” asked one.
These people on the streets of Carlow town, just five minutes from the scene, summed up the mood:
