successes required reliable intelligence and raids often brought no result—or sometimes worse. in one case, they arrested a castle official, law adviser w e wylie, by mistake. in another, more notorious case, on 19 april 1921 they raided the shannon hotel in castleconnell, county limerick on a tip that there were suspicious characters drinking therein. the "suspicious characters" turned out to be three off-duty members of the ric: both sides mistook the other for insurgents and opened fire; three people, an ric man, an auxiliary cadet and a civilian, were killed in the shootout that followed.