 After removing security documents relevant to the meeting with Garda from the Cavalier and personal belongings of the two officers including notes for a history of his church Buchanan had been writing, and a diary containing the contact details of informers and an RUC assistant Chief Constable (whose house was later bombed) from Breen, the IRA gunmen drove away from the scene of the killings.They were heard by witnesses to have cheered and shouted "Hurrah" as the van sped northwards.The RUC at Forkhill received an emergency call at 3.45 pm reporting that there were two dead men on the Edenappa Road.