“HE SAID HE WAS BEING FOLLOWED” — THEN 16-YEAR-OLD BRYAN LOWE WAS FOUND AFTER A FATAL HIT-AND-RUN

Sixteen-year-old Bryan Lowe was riding his e-bike home when he reportedly sent a chilling message to a friend — saying he was being followed.

Hours later, the St Munchin’s College student was found unresponsive beside a road in County Clare.

Now Gardaí are investigating whether the vehicle involved may have been following him before the collision.

And one heartbreaking question is haunting his family:

Why did Bryan think someone was following him?

“HE WAS BEING FOLLOWED”

Bryan, 16, was riding an e-bike near Cottage Cross, close to Cloonlara on the Clare-Limerick border, on Friday night, September 4.

Shortly after 11 p.m., emergency services were alerted after the teenager was found unresponsive on the L3050.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second vehicle is believed to have been involved — but it did not remain at the scene.

Gardaí are now seeking the driver and occupants of a silver or gold Skoda Octavia, registration 05-C-5982, which was in the Cloonlara/Castleconnell area around the time of the incident.

But investigators are also examining something even more disturbing.

Reports say Bryan had contacted a friend shortly before the incident and claimed he was being followed.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING BEFORE THE COLLISION?

That message has become an important part of the investigation.

Gardaí are understood to be examining whether Bryan may have been deliberately followed by people in the vehicle.

One theory being considered is that the occupants may have wanted to take his e-bike.

At this stage, however, that remains an investigative theory and has not been established as fact.

The Irish Times has reported that homicide-investigation resources have now been committed to the case, with Gardaí examining whether Bryan was deliberately followed and forced from his e-bike. The precise circumstances and any possible motive remain under investigation.

THE CAR THAT DIDN’T STOP

The vehicle believed to have been involved left the scene.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone who was driving through the area to check dashcam footage.

They are also seeking CCTV and doorbell-camera footage from the wider Cloonlara and Castleconnell area between 6 p.m. on September 4 and 11 a.m. on September 5.

Even footage that appears insignificant could potentially help investigators reconstruct Bryan’s final movements.

“LOVE YOU MY SON. HEARTBROKEN.”

While investigators search for answers, Bryan’s family has been left devastated.

His mother, Crystal Lowe, shared photographs of her son and wrote:

“Love you my son. Heartbroken.”

His sister Chloe also paid tribute to her younger brother.

She described him as her only brother and said he had been a beloved uncle to her son.

Her words captured the unbearable reality facing the family — a teenager who should have been looking ahead to his future was suddenly gone.

“AN ABSOLUTE GENTLEMAN”

Bryan was a sixth-year student at St Munchin’s College in Limerick.

His school community has remembered him as kind, respectful and warm-hearted.

Deputy principal Lorraine Shiels described Bryan as an “absolute gentleman” who would do anything asked of him without complaint.

She said he had “a lovely kindness” and “a big heart.”

The school said Bryan should have been preparing for his Leaving Certificate and thinking about the possibilities ahead of him.

Instead, his classmates and teachers are now mourning him.

GARDAÍ NEED ANSWERS

For Bryan’s family, the investigation now carries one devastating question after another.

Who was inside the Skoda?

Why did the vehicle leave?

And most importantly — why did Bryan tell someone that he was being followed shortly before the collision?

Gardaí have urged anyone with information, dashcam footage, CCTV or doorbell footage from the area to come forward.

For now, the answers remain unknown.

But investigators are working to establish exactly what happened in the moments before the teenager’s final journey — and whether the message he sent about being followed was a warning of something far more sinister than anyone realised at the time.