Gardai fear a toddler may have witnessed a horror attack which left one person dead and two injured.
An investigation is under way after an Eastern European, named locally as Virgil Gherghel, 47, stabbed a female relative and her partner before he turned the knife on himself.
He was rushed from the scene at Ashfield Park in Blanchardstown, West Dublin, to James Connolly Memorial Hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later. The seriously injured pair are in the Mater Hospital.
A source said: “Obviously it is very traumatic for the child who was in the house at the time.
“It hasn’t been established if the child saw the attack or not, but was uninjured. No matter what, it’s an awful and very tragic situation.”
One local, describing Monday afternoon’s events, added: “There was actually mayhem. I don’t think anyone knew what was going on.” A postmortem is understood to have confirmed the man died from self-inflicted injuries, however gardai were not releasing the results.
Another source said: “The next steps of the investigation will try to figure out what happened, what caused it, because it was no doubt a very brutal and violent incident.”
The relatives had moved into the area around six to eight weeks earlier.
Gardai are appealing for witnesses.
