A DETECTIVE garda in Tipperary shot himself fatally in the head using his official Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol after he finished work last week.

The garda, a single man in his late 20s, shot himself in his car on Wednesday night.

The detective had been working earlier that day and was permitted to take his official Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol home with him.

He was attached to Cashel garda station but is originally from Ennis, Co Clare where his funeral took place yesterday.

A source said the young man was a highly regarded and well-liked young detective and would be sorely missed. None of his colleagues realised there was anything wrong with the young garda that suggested he planned to take his own life.

The death of the detective is not the first time a garda has ended his life using an official garda weapon. Last July, a recently-retired detective shot himself in the head at Carrick-on-Shannon garda station after gaining access to the station's armoury.

The 55-year-old former garda went into the station and told his former colleagues he needed to finish work on a file. He gained access to the station's small armoury, opened a locked safe and shot himself in the head with an Uzi sub-machine gun.

In April 2008, a detective garda attached to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation was found dead at Harcourt Square in Dublin with a gunshot wound to the head. The 48-year-old, from Swords, had been on a night out with colleagues at a nearby bar when he returned to his office and used his official Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol to commit suicide.

All garda detectives are issued with personal fire­arms.