A man is being treated in hospital after an armed robbery and hiijacking at a petrol station in Co Laois overnight.
It happened at about half past midnight, at Emo Filling Station in Mountrath, near Abbeyleix, when a masked man entered the Emo Filling Station 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 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 ongoing.