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The 28-year-old armed robber shot dead by an undercover garda on Friday was holding a sawn-off shotgun to the throat of a security van driver and threatening to kill him before being called on to drop his weapon, it has been learned.
Gareth Molloy, 28, from Sheriff Street, Dublin, was shot dead after refusing to drop the shotgun when he was confronted by two members of the National Surveillance Unit.
The unit had been tracking the movements of another man, the 27-year-old leader of one of the most active armed robbery gangs in the country.
Molloy had fired a shot from the shotgun and was again threatening to kill the security man when he was confronted and shot dead.
It is understood that five shots were fired by one garda, after issuing a warning, three shots hitting Molloy and two shots hitting another gang member beside him. The other gang member is described as seriously ill but stable in James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown.
According to Garda sources the dead man was part of a highly active gang of robbers who have been responsible for several armed hold-ups in recent years, including the €7.6m heist from the Bank of Ireland at Dublin's College Green in February.
The leader of the gang is a man in his mid-20s from the north inner city who has been under close surveillance by gardai. He was observed last week following the movements of a G4S cash-in-transit van which regularly carries more than €1m and which visits the Centra shop on Foxborough Road in Lucan.