A former senior garda has told how robbers once held a shotgun to his head before they fired shots at him in a high-speed pursuit.
Inspector Tony Gallagher only escaped injury after the gunman missed his target as his car hit a speed bump.
Mr Gallagher was working on the frontline in Ballyfermot in Dublin in 1993 when there was constant armed robberies and a stolen car epidemic.
READ MORE: Police investigating alleged rape of Irish man in Spain tourist spot
One evening, he was escorting a cash-in-transit van when a mob pounced.
Mr Gallagher said: “All of a sudden, a stolen van came around the corner and four people jumped out dressed in paramilitary gear and wearing balaclavas. And they immediately opened fire on us and the person we were escorting.”
As Mr Gallagher relayed immediate details over his radio, one thug held a pump action shotgun to his head.
He recalled: “It was one of these moments in life when you look at the potential assassin’s eyes and you lock eyes with him.
“And it was an engagement that will always stick with me but an engagement that a human dimension generated itself because he just suddenly lowered the aim of the gun.
“And at that stage I had the presence of mind to use the door of the patrol car and I knocked him to the ground.”
Three others gang members had fired shots at the van and went to chase the vehicle, so the gunman threatening Mr Gallagher returned to their stolen car. Mr Gallagher and his colleagues pursued the mob into the main street.
The criminals managed to stop the CIT van and fire two shots into the front windscreen before pulling out the driver, beating him and taking the money.
They then came back in the direction of the gardai and Mr Gallagher.
He said: “The incident where I could have been killed is when one of the gunmen sat out on the back window, behind the driver seat.
“He took aim at the front of the patrol car and shot at me.
“What saved me at the time, and it was found out during the reconstruction, was there was a speed ramp on the road and it put off his aim.
"He hit the bonnet and the grill of the car instead.”
He added: "My time was not up on this occasion, it was a brutal and audacious armed robbery and the criminals were prepared to kill, €20,000 was taken in this robbery."
Mr Gallagher was later recognised in 1995 for his bravery on that occasion for confronting an armed gang and was awarded a Scott Medal at the garda college in Templemore in Tipperary.
He was also later awarded a silver medal of valour at an award ceremony at Dublin Castle for giving first aid to a man whose throat had been cut and who was known to be a drug addict and HIV positive.
In that incident, the victim's main artery in the neck was cut and Mr Gallagher applied pressure to the wound before he travelled in the ambulance maintaining this pressure.
A consultant who subsequently operated on the injured man wrote to Mr Gallagher's Superintendent and stated had it not been for his intervention, the victim would not have survived.
In his time in the force, Mr Gallagher also saved two further lives.
He was later promoted to Sergeant and then became an Inspector in Mountjoy Garda Station, where he oversaw huge policing plans for major concerts at Croke Park including the Rolling Stones.
He also had to plan for the Queen's visit in 2011, when she visited the Garden of Remembrance and GAA HQ.
In advance, the Buckingham Palace protection team came over to check on what he had planned assessing the sites. If measures were not in place the visit would not have gone ahead.
Mr Gallagher said: "It went extremely well and those from Buckingham Palace complimented the plans that I had, they said 'you go further than we go.'"
The senior garda last week retired following nearly 39 years service and now begins a role as risk, security and event manager with Ashtree Risk Group.
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter.
READ NEXT:
