Son, 23, who died on suspicion of suicide in Cork, was...

One of the young men at the center of an apparent murder-suicide tragedy that resulted in the death of three members of the same family in North Cork on Monday was due to graduate next week with an accounting degree.

Diarmuid O’Sullivan, 23, of Assolas near Kanturk, graduated from the Cork Institute of Technology in June and should receive a First Class Honors degree in accounting next week, the institute confirmed.

Dr. Dan Collins, director of student affairs at CIT, said the CIT community was shocked at the news of the tragic deaths of Mr. O’Sullivan and his brother Mark and father Tadhg.

“There are no words anyone can say to express how people are feeling. This tragedy is heartbreaking and we express our thoughts and condolences to his mother Anne. We also keep our thoughts and prayers, his brother Mark and his father Tadgh.

“We are aware of his friends, classmates and employees in the accounting and information systems department as well as the extended family and neighbors at this time,” said Dr. Collins in a statement from the CIT.

Dr. Collins said staff at the CIT where Mr O’Sullivan took the four-year course described him as “a promising young man who worked hard, was respected and valued by staff and students alike.”

The shock that Dr. Collins spoke at CIT was repeated in North Cork, where Lombardstown local Fine Gael Cllr John Paul O’Shea said people in Castlemagner and nearby Kanturk were trying to come to terms with the extent of the tragedy.

“There is a total sense of disbelief. The exact details of the case need to be confirmed, but it is obviously a very close community in Castlemagner. The confirmation that three people have passed away is very tragic and has been greeted with a real sense of sadness and loss in the area.

“The news will be posted on various social media platforms so that people from Castlemagner and Kanturk all over the world will know about it, so it will be very difficult for people to come to terms with it, but I have no doubt that people will in Castlemagner and will gather support the family. “

Gardaí said they are not looking for anyone in connection with the three deaths, but confirmed that they hope that the results of the postmortems will be confirmed on Tuesday by Assistant State Pathologist Dr. Margot Bolster of Cork University Hospital will help clear up the events.

The body of Mark O’Sullivan, 26, an aspiring lawyer, was found with gunshot wounds in a room upstairs in the family farmhouse, while the bodies of his brother Diarmuid and father Tadhg, 59, were found in a field alongside two rifles in some Distance from the house.

Gardaí described the incident as a terrible tragedy. Relatives comforted Mr O’Sullivan’s widow, Anne, 60, who had recently been discharged from hospital after an operation last night.

Gardaí says they are open about what sparked the tragedy, but they wonder if the shootings could be related to a dispute over a will in which younger son Diarmuid may have missed part of the 150-acre family farm.

Diarmuid reportedly felt hurt by this and became angry and threatened to harm himself.

The tragedy began Monday morning when Tadhg and Diarmuid walked into Mark’s bedroom in the house sometime after 6:30 a.m. and one or both shot him.

Ms. O’Sullivan fled the house and went to the neighbor to raise the alarm. She told them that her husband and son shot their other son.

The neighbor contacted Gardaí, who ran to the scene.

Locals told gardaí they heard more shots around 7:25 a.m., and officers put a cordon because they knew the family had three licensed firearms, two rifles, and a shotgun and wasn’t sure whether it was a siege or one were or were not exposed to possible hostage situations.

Gardaí declared the matter a critical firearms incident and a senior officer in the Cork City Division was appointed to command the site when Gardaí sought assistance and armed Emergency Response Unit members were deployed from Cork and took up positions around the farmhouse.

In the meantime, a trained negotiator from the Cork North Division tried unsuccessfully throughout the morning to contact people in the house because gardaí maintained their position in the cordon if anyone in the house was armed.

After the discovery of the three bodies, the deputy state pathologist, Dr. Margot Bolster conducted a preliminary examination of the three bodies on the farm.

Gardaí also enlisted the services of the Garda Technical Bureau from Dublin, and ballistic experts traveled to Kanturk to examine the two rifles found alongside Tadhg and Diarmuid O’Sullivan to see if one or both of the weapons was used by Mark O’Sullivan in shooting were.