Macroom shooting victim is remembered as a man who would never let you down

A man has been arrested in Macroom in connection with the shooting of a man near the town last night.

The man in his 60s is currently detained at Bandon Garda Station under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007.

The dead man was named locally as Derry Coakley from Castle Street, Macroom, aged 58. 

He was on the tractor on a country road at Raleigh North outside the town when the incident occurred at around 11.40pm last night.

He managed to ring a friend following the shooting.

On arrival at the scene, the friend found Mr Coakley seriously injured and immediately contacted the emergency services.

However, he died shortly afterwards.

Martin Coughlan of Macroom Tidy Towns Committee described the Mr Coakley man as being "like a brother".

He said the committee regularly called on him for assistance to do work for them and he "never left us down".

He added: "He is going to be a huge loss to the town."

Gardaí are seeking to establish the motive for the horror attack.

The community was shocked to wake up to hear of the killing — the second in the Macroom area in recent weeks. A 44-year-old man was killed in an incident at Dan Corkery Place on the early hours of Monday, October 8. However, neither incident is connected.

Local TD Aindrias Moynihan described the news as ‘shocking.’

“Raleigh is a very quiet, rural area,” Mr Moynihan said.

“It overlooks the town. Anything like this would be very out of character and quite shocking. It is very distressing for the neighbours and for the family.”

The roadway at Raleigh North remained closed and will be sealed off for the rest of today while a technical examination takes place at the scene of the shooting.

Chief Superintendent Con Cadogan appealed to anyone who was in the Raleigh North area between 11pm and midnight last night to contact gardaí.

The investigation is being run from Macroom garda station, which can be contacted at 026-20590.