like the ordinary police, the auxiliaries sometimes took reprisals in the wake of attacks by the ira. on the evening of bloody sunday, for example, dick mckee and peadar clancy were killed by their auxiliary captors under very suspicious circumstances: the official explanation, that the two insurgents tried to escape, is widely disbelieved. but perhaps the most notorious reprisal involving the auxiliary division was the burning of cork on 11 december 1920. at 7:30 p.m. that evening, a truckload of auxiliaries from newly formed k company was ambushed at dillons cross: a grenade was thrown onto their truck, wounding ten auxiliaries and killing one, temporary cadet spencer chapman. later that night, police and auxiliaries took revenge by setting fire to the city's commercial centre, preventing the fire service from attending the blaze, and shooting seven people.