MICHAEL McGoldrick was found in his taxi on a lonely road near the village of Aghagallon, Co Armagh. His body was slumped over the driving wheel. He had been shot twice in the head.
Mr McGoldrick worked for a Catholic taxi depot in Lurgan. His killer would have known his religion. Loyalist sources insist the killing was ordered by a UVF leader in mid-Ulster called King Rat.
He is known to oppose the loyalist ceasefire and the peace process which he believes is leading to a Protestant surrender. He controls the Portadown-Lurgan area and has had several clashes with the UVF leadership in Belfast.
He is seen as an "extremist". He detests the UVF's political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party, which he believes is no longer loyalist.
"There is no doubt that this killing was ordered by this man," said one loyalist source. "We must now establish how many other UVF members are behind him and whether he plans to kill again or whether this is a one-off.
"If he wants to launch further attacks, the UVF will have its hands full dealing with him. He is someone who is very intent on doing his own thing. It will be difficult to rein him in."
None of the sources believed the other main loyalist paramilitary group, the UDA - which issued a statement yesterday denying responsibility - carried out the attack.
The UDA said it strongly opposed re-routing of the Drumcree march but that it was not involved in orchestrating street violence. It called for "dignified, peaceful protests" and said it would be monitoring events.
The UVF has not issued a statement denying the attack but PUP spokesmen insisted it was not involved and its ceasefire stands. However, the PUP - unlike the Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing - has failed to condemn Mr McGoldrick's killing.
Borrowing a phrase from Sinn Fein, party leader, Mr David Ervine, said he did not believe in the "politics of condemnation". He would describe the killing only as "tragic and unnecessary".
The RUC is carrying out forensic tests on Mr McGoldrick's car. But police say they are still trying to establish a motive for the killing. They refuse to say it is sectarian and insist they are keeping "an open mind at this stage about any possible motive
Nationalists believe the RUC is deliberately refusing to say the killing is sectarian because that would heighten tensions. They believe the RUC would behave differently if a Protestant taxi-driver had been killed.
They say the police have previously not been reticent to say that IRA involvement was suspected in an incident. Nationalists complain the RUC also would not attribute a sectarian motive to two other killings in recent weeks - those of tennis player Gareth Parker in north Belfast and bank clerk Niall Donovan in Dungannon, Co Tyrone.
Residents in both areas believe loyalists carried out and that the victims were killed simply because they were Catholics.