GARDAÍ have arrested a second man in connection with the murder of Thomas Dooley in Tralee on Wednesday.
A man aged in his 40s was arrested in Cork city this afternoon and taken to Tralee Garda Station where he is currently being held in custody under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
Another man – believed to be in his 30s and from the Killarney area – was arrested in connection with the killing at Cork University Hospital at around 1.30am on Thursday morning.
He remains in police custody in Tralee. The vehicle the man was in was also seized near the hospital and is currently undergoing a full forensic examination.
The arrests followed major gardaí search operations in Cork city and the Ballincollig area to the west of the city.
Thomas Dooley (43) – a father-of-seven from Killarney – died after suffering multiple horrific stab and slash wounds in a brutal pre-planned ambush as he attended a funeral at Rath Cemetery in Tralee.
Mr Dooley’s wife also suffered extremely serious but non-life threatening injuries in the attack and is currently being treated at University Hospital Kerry (UHK).
The group of people who carried out the attack did not attend the funeral and gardaí believe they traveled to Tralee with the sole intention of attacking Mr Dooley.
Rath Cemetery remains closed today as gardaí continue their technical examination of the scene, where a number of weapons were found, including hooks, machetes and knives.
A post-mortem examination by Dr Sally Ann Collis is expected to begin at UHK on Thursday afternoon.
While gardaí continue to classify the killing as a “fatal assault”, a full incident room has been set up at Tralee Garda Station and the incident is effectively being treated as a full homicide investigation.
The case is expected to be formally classified as a homicide once all post-mortem results are provided to the gardaí.
The arrested man is being questioned at Tralee Garda Station, where he is being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
From the moment of arrest, he can be detained for up to 24 hours.
Gardaí have also begun the process of taking witness statements from anyone else who attended the funeral on Wednesday morning.
Police inquiries are also appealing for witnesses and anyone with CCTV footage of the attack on Mr Dooley to make it available to them.
