The Garda who fired the fatal shot which killed John Carthy during the siege at Abbeylara in County Longford last April told the inquest he was in no doubt that the 27-year-old was about to pull the trigger and kill someone. Earlier, another Garda who was acting as the negotiator said that he had hoped to persuade Mr Carthy to put down his gun even as he came out of the house. The Detective Inspector, who was a Detective Sergeant in the Emergency Response Unit at the time of the siege, said he opened fire on Mr Carthy not with the intention of killing him, but to minimise serious injury to him.
