A Catholic man was in a serious but stable condition in hospital last night after being shot as he left work in a bakery in Newtownabbey on the northern outskirts of Belfast.
Mr Chris McMahon (30), a father of two young children, underwent emergency surgery in Whiteabbey Hospital. He was later transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for further surgery. His condition remains "serious but stable".
Loyalists are suspected of carrying out the attack.
The man is married to a cousin of Mr Alex Maskey, a Sinn Fein councillor, but is understood not to be involved in politics. The bakery where he worked was owned by another cousin of Mr Maskey.
The shooting occurred shortly after 6 p.m. as the man was closing the shop on the Carnmoney Road. Witnesses said that a gunman ran down an alley next to the bakery and shot the man as he was locking up the premises with his brother.
A woman who was in a nearby shop at the time said: "We were sitting here at about ten past six when we heard a noise that sounded like two shots. A fellow came running in and asked us to phone an ambulance. He said his brother had been shot.
"When I went around, the fellow was asking `Why me?' and his brother was saying `It's nothing to do with you, it's just the stupid country we live in'," she said.
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, expressed dismay at the shooting.
The attack was also condemned by Mr David Ford, of the Alliance Party, who said that it marked "another backward step in what has already been a sad week for Northern Ireland".
Mr Danny Lavery, of Sinn Fein, said the shooting marked "a further escalation in the murder campaign by loyalist death squads".
Meanwhile, a Catholic taxidriver who was shot and injured in north Belfast on Wednesday night, but who managed to drive away from his attackers, was still undergoing treatment in a Belfast hospital last night. His condition is not thought to be life-threatening.
A Protestant man in his 40s was in a critical condition in the intensive care unit of the Royal Victoria Hospital last night after being shot in his home on the Belvoir estate on the outskirts of Belfast late on Wednesday night. Loyalists are being blamed for the attack, but police say that no motive has yet been established.