'COLM PREVENTED A MASS SHOOTING'

Brave Garda Horkan was killed stopping a bigger bloodbath as colleagues reckon Silver could have gone on the rampage

- PAUL HEALY

A CLOSE colleague of slain Detective Garda Colm Horkan said his bravery on the day of his murder prevented a possible "mass shooting".

The Irish Mirror exclusively sat down with two close Garda colleagues of Colm at Castlerea Garda Station - after monster Stephen Silver was found guilty of the hero detective's capital murder on Wednesday.

Silver, who will be sentenced on April 19, faces a mandatory term of at least 40 years in prison.

He pumped 11 bullets into Det Gda Horkan with the detective's own gun as the officer lay helpless on the ground in the horror on June 17, 2020.

Garda Darryl Gilmore, GRA CEC rep for Roscommon and Longford, and Garda Liam McBrien, who both served with Colm, yesterday said that the jury's verdict on Wednesday was the right one.

And Garda McBrien, who served eight years alongside Colm in Ballaghaderreen, said, in his view, Silver was an arrogant killer who should have confessed to murder from day one.

He added he believes Silver's horrific actions - in which he fired 11 shots at Colm on the main street of Castlerea shortly before midnight on June 17, 2020 - shows his murderous intentions that day.

Garda McBrien said: "If he had any decency about him at all he should have just said 'right, hands up'. He didn't.

"It shows the mark of the two people. If Colm hadn't been as brave and as committed as he had, there would have probably been bullets left in the gun, and the two next guards that arrived could have been shot.

"It could have been a mass shooting."