Postmortem examinations on a family who were found dead at their home in Co Wexford have established that both parents died from gunshot wounds.
Diarmuid Flood (41) died from a single gunshot wound to the head, while his wife Lorraine died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
The couple, along with their two children Mark (6) and Julie (5), were found dead at their home in the village of Clonroche in the early hours of Saturday morning. The house had been destroyed by fire.
Gardaí said the family were last seen alive at teatime the day before the incident. A crime scene investigation at the house is expected to continue for a number of days.
The postmortem examinations were unable to identify the cause of death of the children. But they established that they did not die as a direct result of the fire which engulfed the family home. The examination found no evidence of physical trauma to the children and gardaí said they were awaiting the results of toxicology tests to help determine the exact cause of the children's death. The results of these are expected in the next two to three days.
A shotgun, which was legally owned by a relative of Ms Flood, was found in the house. The weapon had been in the possession of Mr Flood for some time. The investigation recovered some ammunition in the house which was "both spent and unspent".
Speaking at a media briefing in Enniscorthy last night, Supt Kevin O'Donoghue said there was a possibility an accelerant had been used to start the fire in the house but he said experts were not yet able to confirm if one had been used to start the fire.
Gardaí had interviewed "a huge number of people at this stage and we will continue to do that over the next few days". They were slowly acquiring information which would help them piece together what had transpired in the house on Saturday morning, he said.
Gardaí are liaising with "any agencies, bodies or individuals who we feel can assist" in the investigation, he added.
The deaths has caused widespread grief and shock in the small community. Both Diarmuid and Lorraine Flood (nee Kehoe) came from sporting families which are well known in Co Wexford. They were regarded as a "model couple".
Supt O'Donoghue said he had been asked to request that the media refrain from speculation surrounding the incident, as it was only contributing to the "tremendous hurt and pain" being experienced by the Flood and Kehoe families.
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Children did not die as direct result of fire: page 7