The Garda Ombudsman is investigating the circumstances which led to a man’s decision to shoot himself outside a shopping centre, it has emerged.

Fiosrú has begun a more complete investigation into the Garda sting operation that preceded the death of Evan Fitzgerald on June 2, 2025. It comes after Fiosrú found no wrongdoing in the emergency Garda response to the shooting in Carlow town.

Mr Fitzgerald, along with two friends, was facing charges of possession of guns when the tragedy happened. The sting operation began after the 22-year-old, who has been described as ‘naïve’ and ‘vulnerable’, tried to buy weapons on the dark web.

Last year, Labour TD Alan Kelly told the Dáil that gardaí gave guns to Mr Fitzgerald, who had no criminal record nor any connection to any organisation. Addressing the Taoiseach under privilege, Mr Kelly said: ‘We now know the guns were actually given to him by An Garda Síochána.’

A day earlier, then-Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told the Oireachtas Justice Committee Fiosrú had examined an investigation file into the incident. He said no issue had been found in relation to Garda use of a controlled delivery in relation to alleged firearms offences.

However, the Irish Examiner has reported the new investigation will be a more complete review and follows a complaint. A spokesman for Fiosrú said that the Ombudsman does not confirm or deny the existence of complaints.

Last month, an inquest into Mr Fitzgerald’s death in Carlow was told he had felt guilty because he believed he was responsible for getting his two friends into trouble for buying the guns.

Depositions from his parents described their son’s state of mind in the time between his arrest and that of his friends in March 2024, and his death in June 2025. His mother, Aideen Burke, said the case had been consuming her son and she questioned why the sting operation took place.

‘The guards were looking for organised crime people, not foolish Evan with his morbid fascination,’ Ms Burke said. One of the conditions of bail for the three men in March 2024 was no contact between them ahead of any trial.

Mr Fitzgerald’s father, Brian, told the inquest that his son felt very isolated as a result of the bail conditions. Earlier this year, Shane Kinsella of Tynock, Kiltegan, and Daniel Quinn Burke were given three-year sentences, suspended in full for five years.

Both had pleaded guilty to possessing a rifle, a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition on March 2, 2024 – the day of the sting operation – near Straffan in Co. Kildare.

Extra.ie previously revealed undercover gardaí had a face-to-face meeting with Mr Fitzgerald at a Dublin pub nine days before they arrested him and his two friends. The statement is contained in the book of evidence – seen by the MoS – submitted in the trial of Quinn Burke and Kinsella.

Witness statements in the book of evidence signed on June 5, 2025 – four days after Mr Fitzgerald took his life – reveal how a member of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau and dark web expert engaged with him after gardaí got a tip-off from the FBI.

Posing as a firearms dealer, he set up a proton email address, Irishdeliveries@protonmail.net, to communicate with Mr Fitzgerald, who was identified with a username, DefCon8. In his Garda interview, Mr Fitzgerald told how the person he believed to be an arms dealer ‘got me to download Proton Mail’ and ‘asked me to get a burner phone’.

In an email dated January 22, the garda offers to sell ‘DefCon8’ a ‘G3’ Heckler and Koch battle rifle for €1,300, a Serbian-made Zavasta automatic rifle, also for €1,300, two Tokarev handguns for €1,000 each, and a 9mm automatic pistol, also for €1,000.

On February 2, the case was handed over to a senior detective inspector with the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and an undercover agent referred to in the documents as ‘Undercover Officer FG’.

The senior undercover officer’s statement makes references to gardaí being aware of potential accusations of ‘entrapment’.

The Garda Press Office defended the force’s handling of the undercover operation. A spokesman said: ‘The intervention in this case occurred following the appropriate risk assessment, and the intervention team conducted their duty as per best practice to ensure the safety of all persons, including those arrested, members of the public and… An Garda Síochána.

‘All such cases will involve similar armed intervention, and there is nothing that has arisen in this case to indicate matters should have been approached differently.’

One senior Garda told Extra.ie: ‘There is disquiet in the Garda about this. One of my colleagues said the attitude was “high fives all round for a job done well”.

There is a young man dead now who could have been alive today if this was handled differently.’