A man has been arrested in a shopping centre after a near eight-hour hunt for a gunman.
The suspect was detained after 2pm in Citywest in west Dublin after a black Mercedes was rammed by garda cars.
The man was restrained by at least five gardai with about 10 patrol cars and armed response units on the scene following a series of incidents across Tallaght including a break-in at a home, an assault and car thefts.
The arrest took place in front of dozens of stunned shoppers and retail workers, including a number of staff from Dunnes Stores.
Gardai said a man in his 30s had been arrested at the scene.
Witness Kian McGuirk (15) was in a car on the grounds of the shopping centre with his mother when the incident unfolded.
"Me and mam had just driven out of the shops. She was just getting a few bits and bobs and we heard the helicopter and the sirens," he said.
"I only live up the road and I said to my mam I'd just walk around to the house. She said 'no' but then she said 'OK, but don't get too close'.
The schoolboy, who lives in Citywest and was in the area for an appointment, said: "The main doors were across the road from me.
"I could see someone sprinting out. I saw the fella sprinting out to the main doors. He dropped his jacket, a black jacket.
"I saw the gardai running into the shops. And they just jumped on him, put him on the ground and then handcuffs."
The suspect had suffered a minor cut to his face.
The operation across Tallaght was launched after a disturbance at a house at about 6.30am.
It is understood the incident was domestic and a car was initially stolen from the property in the Brookview area.
Four samurai swords were taken from a house in the area in a follow-up search by gardai.
There were unconfirmed reports that the suspect had been carrying a gun in the shopping centre before being stopped by gardai.
In one incident in the hours before the arrest, a man was attacked in his home after a gunman, said to have been carrying a machine gun, smashed in the front door of a house in the Watergate area of Tallaght and demanded car keys.
Inside, he beat a man around the head with the butt of the gun before stealing a black Renault Kadjar SUV with the registration 162-D-8767.
Two other vehicles were also reportedly hijacked on roads in the Tallaght area during the incidents.
Gardai said the arrested man was detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and taken in for questioning to Tallaght station.
A suspected firearm, which will undergo technical examination, was also recovered at the scene.
Gardai repeated their appeal for witnesses to come forward.
Niall Collins, manager of Streat cafe in the Citywest centre, said gardai chased a man into the centre and towards Dunnes before the arrest was made.
"We heard the commotion out in the hall," he said.
"We didn't see much. We went to the front door and the gardai followed him in. Then there were a couple of customers sitting out the front of the cafe so we brought them in and pulled down the shutters."
Meanwhile, a woman took two children, one of whom was as young as seven, to a carjacking, gardai have said.
The incident happened in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, on Sunday evening when the woman drove a man to a graveyard where he had arranged to meet another man who was selling a C-class Mercedes.
Gardai said the supposed buyer got out of the red Toyota Auris and assaulted the owner of the other car.
He stole the 142-D reg Mercedes and drove off towards Dublin.
Gardai said they believe there were two children in the 05-D Toyota which the woman had been driving and that the man who was selling his car tried to stop the woman driving off.
He stood in front of the Toyota but was knocked to the ground and suffered minor injuries as the woman took off in the same direction as the stolen car.
The incident took place opposite St Seachnall's National School in Dunshaughlin village at about 6.20pm.
The Mercedes had been advertised for sale.
Gardai issued a description of the man who stole the car. He is about 5ft 11in with short black hair and sallow skin.
The woman who drove the man to the scene with the youngsters in the back was said to be in her 30s and of heavy build with long brown hair.
Gardai also said that in the two hours before the incident 05-D registration plates were stolen from a car parked at the The Old Forge housing estate in Dunshauglin, a short distance from the graveyard.
Officers have appealed for witnesses.
