New York guard shoots two Irishmen after smoking row

Lara Marlowe in Washington
www.irishtimes.com
Tuesday, February 9, 2010

TWO IRISHMEN are recovering from gunshot wounds in a New York hospital after being shot by a security guard in a dispute over smoking at a bowling alley.

Gerard Hourigan from Limerick and Justin Donaghy from Navan, both age 29, were smoking indoors in a bowling alley in Queens at about 1.45am on Saturday when Michael Iavecchio (54), the bowling alley’s security guard, told them to leave.

Mr Iavecchio then escorted them outside and a fight ensued. The guard, a retired policeman, pulled out his .380 calibre Ruger semi-automatic pistol and shot Mr Hourigan on the right side of the torso and Mr Donaghy in the stomach.

“This has been an enormous trauma,” said a young American woman who identified herself as Mr Hourigan’s wife. She was reached by telephone at the Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, where the two men are recovering.

A police spokeswoman said the Irishmen will be arrested and arraigned by a local judge on charges of menacing as soon as they are released from hospital. She said their punishment will be up to the court. Their lives are not in danger.

“They’re charged with a misdemeanour, not a crime,” said James Patrick Delaney, the Irishmen’s lawyer. “They had no weapon and they didn’t cause any injury. They both have clean records in Ireland and the US. They are both married to American girls. They’re hard-working and they’re both here legally. Their families have come over from Ireland since the incident.” Mr Delaney says he owns pubs in New York and Dublin and that smoking “is not an issue. I’ve never seen anybody get in a fight about it.” The AMF 34th Avenue Lanes bowling alley in Jackson Heights, Queens, is described by the New York Times as being located on “a desolate commercial strip just south of Northern Boulevard”. It has 35 lanes, billiard tables and a snack bar and was described in the New York Daily News as “family-oriented”. Read more…

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