Kerry shootings now treated as murder

Gardaí have opened a double-murder investigation after postmortems on the body of a father and son found in Co Kerry revealed they had been shot several times.

The bodies of Michael Hanrahan (54) and his son, Denis (27), were found yesterday morning by a workmate of Denis's in a bedroom of their bungalow near the village of Moyvane in north Kerry.

It is understood that Denis Hanrahan had suffered massive gunshot wounds to his thigh while Michael Hanrahan had suffered gunshot wounds to the chest, leading gardaí initially to believe that a gun might be concealed beneath his body where he fell.

An initial search of the family home by members of the Garda Technical Bureau failed to uncover a legally held shotgun that was licensed to Michael Hanrahan. However, a shotgun was found in the house this morning, the relevance of which has not yet been established.

The firearm is the subject of ballistic examination. Gardaí could find no trail of blood to suggest that either man had moved from where their bodies were discovered. It is understood that officers found about eight cartridges on the floor.

A Garda source admitted: “Because of where the house is - in a relatively isolated area - I’d say witnesses aren’t going to be a great feature of this investigation.”

"It remains unclear at this early stage what the sequence of events were which led to these deaths occurring," he said.

A crime scene investigation team from the Kerry Division, supported later by a team from the garda technical bureau, undertook a forensic and technical examination of the scene.

This examination is ongoing still ongoing. Various other investigative enquiries are being undertaken at the moment by a team of in excess of 60 officers based at Listowel Garda Station, supported by national units as necessary.

The motive for this crime is not yet apparent and a number of avenues are being explored by the investigation team.

A dairy farmer, Michael Hanrahan wrote the local Moyvane notes for the Kerryman and the Limerick Leader newspapers and lived with his son, who worked as a plasterer. Mr Hanrahan's wife, Anne, died from breast cancer some 12 years ago. The couple had another son and three daughters.