Their dramatic arrest was the culmination of a garda surveillance and undercover operation involving the “controlled delivery” of weapons, which Mr Fitzgerald had ordered from the Dark Net.

Last June, while on bail, Mr Fitzgerald, aged 22, took his own life with a shotgun outside a busy Carlow shopping centre.

Criticisms of gardaí

Criticisms made by former justice minister, senator Michael McDowell and Labour TD Alan Kelly, is that the three young Wicklow men were naive rather than dangerous, and that gardaí should have diverted them away from the criminal courts.

Calls for an inquiry haven’t, to date, gained traction and justice minister Jim O’Callaghan said yesterday that he didn’t foresee any need.

The Irish Examiner has spoken to people with knowledge of the case.

In February 2024, an international policing agency informed gardaí that an unidentified person with an Irish internet protocol address was on the dark net looking to purchase high-powered firearms.

“That’s all we knew, that someone in Ireland, an unknown person, was trying to get their hands on military grade weapons and ammunition,” one source said.

A high-level decision was made by Garda security and intelligence along with the drugs and organised crime bureau to set up a controlled delivery. Another source said: 

We didn’t know anything about this person, who they were, were they part of a group, organised crime or terrorist and whatever. 

Controlled deliveries are typically used in drug importations. With firearms, gardaí obviously can’t allow real weapons to be delivered, so they are replaced with decommissioned weapons from police stores.

It also requires undercover police to pose as the suppliers. They made contact with Mr Fitzgerald and pretended to be firearms traffickers and suggested a meeting.

This was done and the undercover police met a still unknown young man in a Dublin pub. As part of their ruse, the gardaí told Mr Fitzgerald to get a ‘burner’ phone.

“This is all to make it look real,” one source said. “We still don’t know this person, is he an arms dealer or is there someone behind him.”

Sources stress this latter scenario is a very realistic one, including the possibility that a vulnerable person — for example, someone who has clocked up a debt to a gang — is coerced, or manipulated, into fronting up the purchase of weapons.

Surveillance operation

A surveillance operation was put in place to follow the young man in a bid to identify him.

“As it turned out, we had no record of him, no dealings with him,” one source said.

On March 2, 2024, Mr Fitzgerald, along with his two friends, drove to Dublin, paid over money — understood to be €2,500 in cash — to the undercover gardaí and took possession of a decommissioned military grade semi-automatic rifle, a semi automatic handgun, and ammunition.

Near Straffan, as Mr Fitzgerald and his friends were driving home, the garda’s elite emergency response unit swooped on them, and, as is typical of such scenarios, smashed in the windows and pointed weapons at them. One source said: 

We knew Evan, but now there were two other people in the car. 

One source said it is only when suspects are questioned they learn about them.

“It is not until you get someone into an interview room and subject them to a series of lengthy interviews over a number of days before you know who you are dealing with and you interview the co-accused and you assess it all,” said the source.

Two days later, this newspaper broke the story of the dramatic incident and quoted sources as saying the suspects were young guys with no criminal history but with a “fascination with guns”.

There were no links to extremism but sources said they would have to examine devices and other evidence, including those taken from their homes in searches.

'High-risk operations'

This weekend, one senior source explained: “These operations are high risk, late developing, and call for decisiveness to protect the public. These judgements are not easy but always made in the best interests of society. We have to act in real time.”

Gardaí point out that the charges were brought by the DPP after examining the garda file.

The three men were charged and granted bail, including the condition that Mr Fitzgerald could not talk to his co-accused.

There have been many references in the last two years to mental health issues that Mr Fitzgerald had, but little public information is available.

'Planned suicide'

However, it is clear that Mr Fitzgerald planned his suicide. He typed up a message beforehand and stuck a USB to the window of Mr Kinsella’s bedroom.

He stole a firearm from a neighbour’s house and had ammunition.

He had a barrel in his home with what is believed to be some sort of accelerant that he put into a bottle and brought with him. He then drove to Fairgreen Shopping Centre.

With the bottle attached around his neck, Mr Fitzgerald spent some time inside the shopping centre trying to set fire to the accelerant, but failed.

Shots fired 

Frustrated, he fired shots into the air as he stormed around inside the centre, forcing people, including mothers and children, to flee screaming.

Sources stress that while they don’t believe Mr Fitzgerland wanted to hurt anyone one, his actions were dangerous and reckless and posed a major public security risk.

When gardaí, including armed detectives, arrived, Mr Fitzgerald had just left the centre before, soon after, discharging the shotgun at himself.

“People are saying he was vulnerable, had mental health issues and that gardaí should have treated him differently,” a source said.

“But you also had a person who tried to import military grade weapons and ammunition, had a fascination with guns, made his own accelerant, stole a firearm, and was willing to go into a shopping centre, where there were other people.”

Another source said: “People are out there, who don’t know what they are talking about, using hindsight. But we don’t have hindsight, we have to operate in real time and our duty is to protect the public.”

• Cormac O’Keeffe, Security Correspondent