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Times
06-07-2025
- Times
What drove a 22-year-old to walk into a shopping centre with a gun?
Evan Fitzgerald seemed determined to die a violent death — and on the evening of June 1, he came dangerously close to taking others with him. Armed with a shotgun he had stolen from a neighbour, the 22-year-old began firing random shots as he walked through the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow, causing terrified shoppers to flee for their lives. Fitzgerald had long struggled with his mental health and is believed to have entered a state of acute psychosis in the hours before the attack. Earlier that day, he visited a friend's home and left a USB stick in a sealed bag taped to their bedroom window, along with a capital letter E written in duct tape. On the device were his thoughts about how — and why — he intended to die violently. He wrote about his past, personal issues and beliefs about how he might die. It remains unclear whether Fitzgerald wanted to harm others or only himself. Or maybe he hoped he would be shot by gardai. Witnesses say he fired his gun but did not appear to take careful aim. The shots were fired overhead, as if to frighten rather than kill. In the end, Fitzgerald turned the weapon on himself. He died by suicide, bringing a tragic conclusion to the events of that Sunday. Such random incidents are rare, if not unprecedented, in Ireland but over the past decade there have been scores of such incidents across the US and Europe, many resulting in mass killings. While there is no single profile for perpetrators of these acts, they often share traits: violent nihilism, suicidal ideation, troubled histories, a sense of isolation. In the midst of psychosis, they sometimes want to become celebrated figures online. Investigators are still trying to determine Fitzgerald's motive. The young man had threatened suicide in the past but he was not ideologically driven. He had not been radicalised online by extremists. There is no evidence to show he consumed violent content online. Many gunmen such as Fitzgerald behave like terrorists without being politically motivated, according to Anne Speckhard, director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism in Washington. 'This is not politically motivated violence, but it might be called motivated violence. The dynamic is simple. They are people who are mentally unwell and convinced that suicide and killing is a good answer to their life problems. They sometimes want to become a false hero, like you get famous for doing something,' she said. Young people with mental health difficulties are especially vulnerable to the lure of violence. Speckhard likened Fitzgerald not to violent extremists but to a school shooter, the type of young person who acquires guns before threatening and sometimes killing their fellow students for no clear reasons. 'These people are highly dangerous because they see violence as their way out. The authorities in Ireland need to be aware of how these incidents sometimes prompt copycats. There are young vulnerable people who might be inspired to behave like this man,' she said. Fitzgerald grew up in Portrushen, a rural community on the Carlow-Wicklow border. He struggled at school with learning disabilities but he was well liked. He was not a loner. The pictures of him at his debs show a smiling, confident-looking young man surrounded by friends. He was much loved by his mother and father. His family declined to contribute to this story. Fitzgerald had struggled with his mental health for years, but as he grew older and left school, he became more capable, more independent but, ultimately, more dangerous as he had developed a fixation with guns and his own death. When he left school and began working in steel fabrication, Fitzgerald suddenly found himself able to financially pursue his obsession with guns, which led him to the darknet. The very traits that helped him function — independence, income and ability — gave him the tools to act on his worst impulses. In people fascinated by violence, especially those who feel alienated or unstable, this combination can be volatile. Fitzgerald first came to the attention of garda intelligence early last year, when investigators were alerted to attempts by an anonymous user to source firearms on darknet marketplaces — online forums often used by criminals to trade in drugs, weapons and stolen data. The forums are among the most heavily monitored by intelligence and police services as they are a rich source of information. Undercover gardai assumed the role of an underworld gun dealer and began communicating with the individual via a Proton Mail account. The account Fitzgerald used was eventually linked to an Irish internet service provider, which helped investigators trace his identity. His request for military-grade weapons led garda intelligence to suspect he was being coerced or his identity had been stolen. The exchanges revealed Fitzgerald had a limited understanding of how the darknet worked: he could not pay in bitcoin — the preferred currency in illicit online markets. Instead, he had to improvise. Fitzgerald sent photographs of bundles of cash to the undercover gardai and promised to pay on delivery. Once his identity was established, garda intelligence began monitoring his actions more closely. But they had no way of knowing his plans or the state of his mental health. On March 2, Fitzgerald and two friends travelled from their homes to meet what they believed was a criminal willing to sell weapons at a prearranged rendezvous. Fitzgerald handed over more than €2,500 in notes before returning to his friend's car with a Heckler & Koch G3 assault rifle, a Remington pistol, and rounds of ammunition for each gun. Not long after, their vehicle was intercepted by the emergency response unit near Straffan, Co Kildare. Later that day, officers searched Fitzgerald's home near Kiltegan in Carlow. Inside, they made a startling discovery. He had been making explosives. There was a black powder mixture of potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal, as well as a separate mix containing ammonium perchlorate, potassium perchlorate, sulphur and magnalium. The team also recovered ammunition for rifles and handguns, shotgun cartridges, and magazines for an AK-47 rifle, a Tokarev pistol, and another for Makarov pistols, the type used in gangland killings. His internet history and technology did not reveal much. He had not watched online gore or visited extremist websites. There was no guiding hand propelling him towards violence. In custody, Fitzgerald freely admitted responsibility for buying the guns, suggesting he just wanted to shoot targets. He said he had stolen the chemicals used to make his explosives, and named a friend as the source of some of the ammunition. However, the detectives could not take his account at face value as some of the ammunition matched types commonly used in gangland shootings. Fitzgerald and his two friends were charged in connection with the weapons and ammunition found in the car. Fitzgerald would later face additional charges relating to the explosives and other firearms parts and ammunition recovered from his home. Hence the initial court hearing was told that investigations were ongoing into the origin of the firearms. Gardai initially objected to bail, but it was later granted under strict conditions. Fitzgerald was due to receive a trial date when he died. The intricacies of the operation that led to Fitzgerald's arrest entered the public domain through Alan Kelly, the Labour TD, who was briefed by a garda whistleblower. The officer, who has made a series of protected disclosures about alleged failings at Garda Headquarters, told Kelly about the provenance of the weapons involved in the sting operation. Kelly has since raised the matter in the Dail and before the Oireachtas justice committee, arguing that Fitzgerald should have been diverted into mental health services rather than arrested and McDowell, the senator and senior counsel, has also suggested the operation amounted to entrapment. Few who understand the intricacies of covert policing would agree with criticisms of the garda approach, however. • No inquiry into garda gun sting linked to Carlow shooting Roy McComb, former deputy director of the National Crime Agency in Britain who wrote the policy document on controlled deliveries for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said the garda operation was entirely legitimate. 'Controlled deliveries carry risks, but all policing does. This young lad had been trying to buy guns. He just happened to contact law enforcement rather than criminals. It's not entrapment. It would be if someone enticed him out of the blue to commit a crime he had no intention of committing,' McComb said. 'The gardai found out about this because he contacted the wrong person. They didn't initiate the crime — they facilitated it for the purposes of … building a case. That's an entirely legitimate purpose.'McComb, like others, believes it is dangerously misguided to suggest the gardai should have handled the case differently. 'These investigations tend to unfold in a certain way. If you pause, the person trying to buy weapons may go elsewhere. The gardai were always working against the clock. In covert policing, you're not in charge of every moving part, but from what I've seen, they did all the right things with the right intentions.' Many familiar with Fitzgerald believe the debate should not focus on the operation that stopped him acquiring weapons but on the violent trends emerging in society. Among them is the growing tendency of young people — often struggling with mental health issues — to embrace violent ideologies and violence itself. Fitzgerald's arrest in Straffan did not deter him. Gardai found another stolen weapon and an imitation firearm in his home after he died. He had also stolen the gun and ammunition he used to kill himself from a neighbour. Speckhard says the challenge is no longer about just about intercepting weapons or preventing attacks — it is about understanding and countering the glorification of violence. 'Unless these underlying drivers are addressed, more cases like these, and worse, are almost inevitable,' she said.
Irish Times
21-06-2025
- Irish Times
Carlow shooting witness says she saw gunman with another male
Evan Fitzgerald , the gunman who fired shots into the air in a Carlow shopping centre before taking his own life, interacted with another young man before opening fire, according to a witness statement taken by gardaí . The witness also described how, before the shooting, she pleaded with Mr Fitzgerald not to do anything after he told her 'this is going to be really loud'. Mr Fitzgerald (22), a steelyard worker from Portrushen, Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, fired a number of shots into the air in the busy Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow Town at about 6.15pm on Sunday, June 1st, before taking his own life. At the time he was facing charges relating to the possession of a military rifle and handgun which he had allegedly attempted to buy on the dark web. READ MORE It has since emerged undercover gardaí sold him the guns, which they had decommissioned, after being tipped off that Mr Fitzgerald was attempting to source weapons on the internet. The exact reason behind Mr Fitzgerald's decision to open fire in the shopping centre remains unclear. All the shots were fired into the air and gardaí have said they do not believe he intended to harm anyone. Garda sources say CCTV shows Mr Fitzgerald entering the shopping centre alone and that there is nothing to indicate he was acting with others. One woman, who asked not to be identified due to security concerns, said she was upstairs in the shopping centre nursing her newborn baby when she spotted Mr Fitzgerald and another young man. She said the pair were standing near some amusement machines and that one of the men was going through a bag. 'They were smiling at each other, and he was showing something to the other guy. The other guy had his phone out and holding it in a way that kind of looked like he was filming,' the woman told The Irish Times. 'They were definitely together. There was no doubt about that.' She said the 'taller, thinner' young man then departed the scene, leaving Mr Fitzgerald behind. The woman, who worked as a teacher, said she suspected Mr Fitzgerald was 'getting up to mischief'. Mr Fitzgerald then passed the woman as she was holding her newborn. 'He looked at me and said, 'just so you know, this is going to be really loud',' she said. The woman said she responded 'how about don't, then'. She repeated this a number of times but the man ignored her. She said he had an object in his hand which she thought may have been a paintball gun. Mr Fitzgerald did not seem agitated and upset at this point, she said. Mr Fitzgerald then left the area and went down the stairs. He passed the woman's partner who was coming up to join her. The man had noticed that Mr Fitzgerald was holding a shotgun and told his partner they needed to hide. The couple and their baby hid in a conference room where they heard six or seven shots. Both were left badly shaken by the incident. Gardaí later took statements from both witnesses. The woman, whose mother was downstairs by the Tesco store, said she thought people in the shopping centre were being shot. It took a long time for her to verify her mother was safe, she said. The woman's mother said she took cover behind some trolleys while the shots went off. 'I was laying there on my belly, hoping he wouldn't notice me,' she said. 'I laid there for the longest time, until I started hearing the gates of the Tesco coming down. 'So I stood up, and then a lovely police officer came over, and he just ushered me out the door and said go home. 'I had no idea where my family were. The first shot, for all I knew, killed my grandson.'
Irish Times
17-06-2025
- Irish Times
Garda media approach shifts to calm online bigotry
The Garda media approach that identified the ethnicity of the man involved in the shooting incident in Carlow likely stopped a spiral of online misinformation developing into a real-world protest. In a highly unusual move, just hours after events at Fairgreen Shopping Centre on June 1st, the Garda press office released a statement saying the man was 'a white Irish national in his 20s'. The lengthy press release also noted that 'a young girl, in the shopping centre with her parents, suffered a minor leg injury when she fell while running from the scene' and that 'No member of An Garda Síochána discharged a weapon'. Each fact countered misinformation flooding social media which suggested the gunman was an asylum seeker or a terrorist, that a boy was shot, that there had been a 'mass shooting' and 'that the gunman was gunned down by armed gardaí'. READ MORE One tweet seen by nearly six million people reported 'Today's Shopping Mall Massacre, which saw a 9-year-old girl shot by a man who had explosives strapped to his body, has enraged the General Public'. Later, details emerged that Evan Fitzgerald (22) had fired a weapon in the shopping centre before turning the gun on himself. By quickly expanding on the facts, the Garda effectively pushed back against the onslaught of fake news that had appeared even before the crime scene tape was in place. Asked why it went into such detail about the injured child, the press office said it was aware of commentary that a child had been taken to hospital 'with the clear implication being that a child had been shot and may die'. Typically, Garda press releases in the immediate aftermath of an event give just bare-bones details. The assailant's gender might be given, a rough idea of age and in some cases, additional, though vague, information such as 'known to the victim'. It's up to crime reporters at the scene or using their contacts to fill in the details to feed the 24-hour news cycle that won't wait for official statements. Journalists routinely confirm their findings with the Garda before reporting them. Reasons for the scant detail range from an urge to protect families involved to legal restrictions. Identifying ethnicity is a highly unusual move by the Garda, but it's not without precedent, and it is being done on a case-by-case basis. Will rent reform make building apartments viable? Listen | 40:12 In the past year, the force has issued nine misinformation notices via social media or press release. Most were to indicate that, despite some social media commentary, the individuals involved in an alleged crime were Irish citizens and not connected to individuals in the international protection system. The past year, says the Garda, has been marked by 'a significant rise in misinformation and disinformation that has falsely linked serious crimes to immigrants. In some instances, this had directly led to violent public gatherings'. (Misinformation refers to false or incorrect information, disinformation is deliberately designed to mislead.) And following a week of violence, it's something the people of Ballymena know all about. The ongoing pubic disorder in the Co Antrim town – on a scale not seen since the worst years of the Troubles – has been fuelled by online commentary that began last Monday with speculation about an alleged sexual attack in the town. By the end of the week, there had been wave after wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric, including advocating violence against specific ethnic groups. On Monday, two 14-year-old boys appeared in court charged with attempted rape of a teenage girl in the town at the weekend; news media reported that they required a Romanian interpreter. The usual anti-immigrant tropes quickly appeared and were amplified on all social media platforms, about the streets not being safe for women and children and inflating immigration figures. One Facebook group, with more than 5,000 followers, urged people to share addresses of 'locals' they wanted to protect – and of those they wanted to target. Scenes of rioting and burned-out houses – by Friday, 14 migrant families had been forced to leave their homes – were shared and reposted while misinformation about the alleged sexual attack spread. One TikTok post claimed 'a granny and a child had been raped'. The posts came from Irish accounts, including those that are typically most active in the South, protesting about refugee housing and newcomer numbers, but also from British far-right accounts. Events in Ballymena moved fast and quickly went far beyond anything that could be calmed by a carefully worded press statement. After a week of street violence, more than 60 members of the PSNI had been injured, and the force's range of anti-riot equipment had been deployed. On Sunday, a 32-year-old man in the Larne area was arrested by police investigating online posts relating to public disorder. A group of Filipino nationals have been forced to leave their Ballymena home amid ongoing violence in the town. Video: Reuters That real-world consequence of an arrest might prove a deterrent for some, but given the proliferation of anonymous social-media accounts and the sheer volume of posts, it's not a realistic way to stamp it out. And that's where the social-media giants have the real part to play, though in practice, that seems far off too. Asked to comment on the torrent of online misinformation following the Carlow shooting, Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended moves to regulate internet misinformation. Such moves are in train, but the social media owners, who all would claim that they work hard at stamping out misinformation, are not going to easily accept regulation. A legal challenge brought by Elon Musk's social network platform against the online safety code introduced by the Republic's media regulator is under way. X alleges in High Court proceedings that Coimisiún na Meán engaged in 'regulatory overreach' in its approach to restrictions on certain video content. Coimisiún na Meán is contesting the case. The company contends that the new online safety code contradicts Irish law requirements for protecting and balancing fundamental rights, particularly freedom of expression.
Reuters
06-06-2025
- Reuters
Fact Check: No bystanders shot in Carlow gun incident mischaracterised as a ‘massacre' online
No bystanders were shot when a man fired a gun inside a shopping centre in Ireland on June 1 before turning the gun on himself, according to police, which counters online posts that say a nine-year-old girl was hit in a 'shopping mall massacre'. An X post, opens new tab shared hours after the incident in Carlow, and viewed 5.7 million times, said: 'Something very serious is unfolding in Ireland right now. Today's Shopping Mall Massacre, which saw a 9-year-old girl shot by a man who had explosives strapped to his body, has enraged the General Public. Ireland may have a Civil War VERY soon.' A post with the same wording was also shared on Facebook, opens new tab. Ireland's police force, An Garda Siochana, referred Reuters to its press releases when contacted for comment. None, opens new tab of its statements, opens new tab say anyone but the gunman, opens new tab was shot. A statement, opens new tab on June 2 said the man discharged a shotgun into the air at Fairgreen Shopping Centre before 'self-inflicting a fatal wound'. The same statement says: 'No person was injured by the shots discharged,' although a young girl also fell and injured her leg when running from the scene. The Garda said it observed 'a bottle containing an unknown substance' on the gunman's body and called an explosive ordnance disposal team who later 'declared the scene safe'. An update issued on June 4, opens new tab said detectives were continuing to gather witness statements and listed no further casualties. National, opens new tab media, opens new tab named 22-year-old Evan Fitzgerald as the man who died. False. Garda said only the gunman was shot, which was self-inflicted. A girl injured her leg as she ran from the scene. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
Sunday World
06-06-2025
- Sunday World
Second shotgun linked to Carlow gunman Evan Fitzgerald found hidden in rural property
Unlicensed shotgun discovered during searches by gardaí after shooting Evan Fitzgerald, from Kiltegan in Co Wicklow, who died in a shooting incident at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow. Photo: PA An unlicensed shotgun believed to have been hidden away by Carlow gunman Evan Fitzgerald in a rural property while he was out on bail has been seized by gardaí. The shotgun was found at the home of a close associate of Fitzgerald's during a search by gardaí on Monday. The man living at that property is known to gardaí and is also before the courts on separate serious charges. He is not believed to have had any involvement in the incident on Sunday, when Fitzgerald (22) opened fire in a shopping centre in Carlow before taking his own life. 'The shotgun found in this search was not registered to anyone. The suspicion is that it belonged to the deceased,' a source said. It is suspected that the shotgun was placed at the property by the deceased 'It is not known where this weapon was procured, but it is suspected that the shotgun was placed at the property by the deceased. 'The individual who is connected to the property is known to gardaí, but not in relation to the incident at the shopping centre and is not a suspect for anything to do with that.' No arrests have yet been made in the case and there are no immediate plans for any detentions. Evan Fitzgerald, from Kiltegan in Co Wicklow, who died in a shooting incident at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow. Photo: PA Today's News in 90 seconds - 6th June 2025 It is understood Fitzgerald, who gardaí believe was suffering from mental health problems, had been renting a room in a property in Kilkenny city in the months before the shooting. He appeared before Naas District Court on March 4 last year, after being arrested as part of a garda investigation into the sale of firearms on the dark web. Fitzgerald walked free from court after gardaí consented to bail on strict conditions. On Sunday night, he discharged a number of shots in a Carlow shopping centre before taking his own life. No other injuries were reported from the gunfire. A young girl was injured running from the scene. Glass damaged by gunshot pellets at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow town. Photo: Frank McGrath Fitzgerald was due to appear before the court again this week for service of the book of evidence and was facing 13 charges of possessing firearms, ammunition and explosive substances. Sources said it is believed Fitzgerald visited his associate in recent months and it was on one of those occasions that he stored the shotgun in the rural property. It was one of a number of properties searched by gardaí and army experts in the aftermath of Sunday's incident. In another search, two bullets were found in a barrel containing a suspicious mix of alcohol and sucrose/glucose, which could possibly be components for an explosive but were declared non-viable by the Defence Forces. Fitzgerald, who was described in court as having 'a fascination with firearms', sparked terror among shoppers when he began shooting in the Fairgreen Centre in Carlow.
