The man suspected of shooting dead Garda Colm Horkan has been named as Stephen Silver.
The 43-yr-old mechanic had recently moved back to Castlerea where the incident took place on Wednesday night.
It’s understood that Mr Silver is from the area where his UK born parents moved to many years ago.
Garda Horkan stopped Mr Silver driving his moped down the main street.
The two men were known to each other with locals claiming that Mr Silver allegedly had threatened another garda previous to the incident on Wednesday night.
A physical altercation took place with Mr Silver allegedly grabbing Garda Horkan’s pistol and shooting him at least six times in the chest.
Garda Horkan died at the scene as the local priest gave him the Last Rites and said an act of contrition.
Mr Silver was overpowered by two gardai who raced to the scene from the local Castlerea garda station when they heard gunshots being fired.
It’s understood that Mr Silver did not try and escape from the scene but simply stood beside Garda Horkan.
Mr Silver is currently in garda custody and can be questioned up to three days.
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