Garda Supt Joe Shelley has told the Barr Tribunal that John Carthy was considered a danger to everyone present at the Abbeylara siege, whether they were armed or unarmed.
Supt Shelley was the scene commander at the April 2000 siege in Abbeylara, County Longford, when 27-year-old John Carthy was shot dead by gardaí. He has been giving evidence for the fourth day.
He was questioned repeatedly about whether or not cigarettes were used by gardaí as a means of getting John Carthy to surrender or decommission his gun.
Mr Justice Barr asked Supt Shelley if it had ever crossed his mind to put some cigarettes into a Dunnes Stores bag, weigh them down with a stone, and throw them 30 yards over the wall.
Mr Shelley replied that throwing something over the wall might have been seen as a threat by John Carthy.
Mr Barr put it to him that he would leave a depressed man, craving for cigarettes, without tobacco.
Mr Shelley said members of the Emergency Response Unit, who had been trying to negotiate with Mr Carthy about getting cigarettes to him, were trying to arrange to get the cigarettes to him safely.
He said the safety of everyone at the scene was of paramount importance.
