Post mortem examinations on three men from a county Cork family - will take place later, following an apparent murder-suicide.
Gunfire had been reported to Gardaí at around 6.30 yesterday morning, near Kanturk.
Negotiators from the force tried and failed throughout the morning to make contact with anyone - in a remote farmhouse where the shots were heard.
A man in his 20s was found dead in a bedroom, while the bodies of a man in his late 50s and another man in his 20s were found in a nearby field.
The first shots were heard in the townland of Assolas before dawn.
A woman in her sixties fled her home and told neighbours a gun had been fired -- and one of the three men in the remote farmhouse might have been shot.
Local gardaí and armed detectives rushed to the scene, only to be told more gunfire had been heard.
The Emergency Response Unit was flown in by helicopter as negotiators tried to make contact with anyone in the farmhouse.
But after these attempts failed, they went in to find a man in his twenties shot dead in a bedroom.
Soon after two more bodies were found nearby, along with several guns.
Today the State Pathologist's office will begin post-mortem examinations on the remains of the men.
Gardaí in Kanturk say they're not looking for any other person in connection with the tragedy -- but they're appealing for witnesses.
