Staff in the Village Store were terrified by the arrival of armed gardaí, writes Joe Humphreys
It was just before 8am when Aldona Chwalik arrived for work at the Village Store, whose busy deli counter she managed.
The shop normally did a brisk trade with construction workers from three nearby building sites. Thursdays, however, were particularly busy with locals calling for their pensions at the post office in a corner of the shop.
As Chwalik took off her jacket to start work, the back door swung open and a pair of masked men burst in. "They put a gun into my face and said 'On the floor everyone, on the floor'. I thought it was someone just messing, but then I saw the gun," she said.
Six staff - most of them from eastern Europe - were in the shop, along with at least four customers. As they took cover, one of the raiders moved to the post office counter and smashed at the security window with a sledgehammer.
It is not clear how many post office staff were in the building. Normally there would just be one at that time - the local postman - who would be in a sorting office at the rear.
Post office staff were alerted to the possibility of the raid and armed gardaí were hiding in their section of the building. Members of the Emergency Response Unit had also been camped outside.
Once gardaí realised the raid was in progress they immediately stormed through the front of the shop. "They said, 'We are gardaí'. They said, 'Put your weapons down'," Ms Chwalik told RTÉ.
According to gardaí, one of the raiders, Colm Griffin (33), ignored the order and pointed the gun he was carrying at a garda. Gardaí then opened fire, fatally wounding Griffin and a second man, Eric Hopkins (24).
Their bodies fell within feet of staff who were lying on the floor.
"I was terrified. I feared for my life," said store worker Patrice McMahon. "I honestly thought I would never see my daughter or my family again."
Some staff and customers said they had been confused by the presence of non-uniformed gardaí.
Olga Labecka, a customer who had been buying her breakfast from the deli counter, said: "I came in and heard the shots and I started running away from the shots. I was really afraid, and then a man at the door put the gun near my head. The man was wearing civil [ civilian clothes], no caps. I didn't know he was a garda.
"He said, 'Get down on the floor'. I went down on the floor and only when I put my head up I saw on his back it was Garda."
Shop owner Eugene Larkin said staff felt a degree of anger.
"When they got news that the guards were actually in with the post office staff and they never informed them, it just increased the trauma for them - that they were left exposed like that."
Ms Chwalik added: "I just feel they should not have let this happen. If they know about this - that it would happen - they should not have let them into the shop."