Gardaí searching for the weapon used in Macroom shooting 

A POST mortem examination will be carried out tomorrow on the man shot outside Macroom, as gardaí continued to interview a suspect about the killing.

It is understood that Derry Coakley, 58, from Castle Street in Macroom, had been driving in the area with a tractor and empty trailer before being shot near a farmhouse in Raleigh North.

A large area is being searched by gardaí, including the technical bureau, around the farmhouse and onto the roadway.

A man in his 60s who was arrested under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act remained in custody this evening at Bandon garda station.

The post mortem was due to be carried out by the deputy state pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster. The death is expected to be upgraded to murder.

Gardai were carrying out searches for the weapon as the nearby town of Macroom was plunged into disbelief that a second killing had taken place just 16 days after the murder of Timmy Foley in Dan Corkery Place.

The incidents are not connected to each other.

The current investigation is centred on establishing a motive for the horror shooting, with speculation that there had been an issue regarding Mr Coakley using a local area to offload waste.

He ran an agricultural contracting business and also had a hackney service, which was previously operated by his father.

He was separated with one daughter and was living with his elderly mother.

He had managed to raise the alarm with a friend before dying at the scene a short time later.

Martin Coughlan of the Macroom Tidy Towns Committee described the dead 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. It is a hard day. It is a desperate blow."

Fianna Fail's Deputy Aindrias Moynihan said the general feeling in Macroom was shock. He added: “People are only coming to terms with the other recent tragedy visited on the community.” 

Cork County Council said Mr Coakley was known to many of the council's staff in the Macroom area because of his contracting work. In a statement, the authority extended its sympathies to Mr Coakley's family.

Gardai are appealing to anyone who heard or saw anything in the Raleigh North area between 11pm and 12 midnight on Tuesday to contact Macroom gardaí on (026) 20590.