First man arrested over shots fired at garda car linked to burglary gang members

This afternoon a man in his mid 20s from Tallaght became the second person to be arrested as part of the probe.

Earlier a 22-year-old man who gardai believe was present when shots were fired at a garda patrol car in Tallaght last July was arrested this morning by officers probing the reckless gun attack.

The suspect was arrested at his home in Tallaght and was the first person to be detained as part of the long running probe.

The 22-year-old is well known to gardai and is currently on bail in relation to burglary charges and sources say that he has links to organised burglary gangs from the Tallaght area.

Sources say that the chief suspect for actually firing the shots on the night is a 20-year-old close pal of the two arrested men and he is currently facing unrelated serious firearms charges.

Gardai announced details of the arrest this morning.

“Gardaí investigating a shooting incident which occurred shortly after 2:30am on 24th July 2021 in the Rossfield Avenue area of Tallaght in Dublin, have arrested a man on the morning of Wednesday, 1st December, 2021, as part of this investigation,” a spokesman said.

“The man, aged in his early 20s, is currently being detained at Tallaght Garda Station under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, 1939,” he added.

It is understood that gardaí were carrying out a protection post in the Rossfield area on the Saturday morning when they were notified of an armed gang nearby.

At least three men were present, one armed with a handgun and another armed with a baseball bat.

When the gardaí went to investigate, a number of shots were fired at them with one bullet striking the bonnet of the vehicle.

The three men then fled the scene. While the gardaí were not physically injured, they were understood to be shaken from the incident.

A technical examination of the garda patrol vehicle was also carried out.

In a follow-up operation in the week after the shooting, gardai arrested the suspected gunman and a 17-year-old boy as part of an investigation into the seizure of two shotguns which were discovered in Tallaght around 11 hours before shots were fired at gardai.