A man is being treated in hospital after an armed robbery in County Laois overnight.
It happened at about half past midnight, at Emo Filling Station in Mountrath, near Abbeyleix.
A masked man entered the Emo Filling Station in Mountrath in the early hours of this morning and threatened a staff member with a gun.
He made off with a quantity of cash, but subsequently crashed his getaway car outside a house in Derrykearn.
When the occupants of the house checked the well-being of the driver, a shot was fired.
The suspect then fled in a second car stolen from the occupants of the house, but again collided with a tree – around one and a half kilometres from the original collision.
The suspect was removed to Tullamore General hospital where he is described as being in a serious condition.
Investigations are on-going.