The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investigating a drugs motive in the killing of a Catholic man in north Belfast. Mr Frankie Mulholland was shot dead as he sat in a parked car near a petrol station on the Upper Crumlin Road.
The Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the killing which has been widely condemned. Detectives are understood to have ruled out a sectarian motive. Mr Mulholland (34) was a well-known drug dealer in the city.
He was sitting in the driver's seat of the car on Monday night when two or three people approached and opened fire through the window. A passenger alongside was uninjured but was treated in hospital for shock.
According to local sources, Mr Mulholland had been threatened by loyalists. There were reports that he had also been threatened by republican paramilitaries. The UDA and Loyalist Volunteer Force have used the Red Hand Defenders as a cover-name in the past.
Police sources said a drugs motive for the killing was being investigated. Local DUP MP, Mr Nigel Dodds, said he believed the shooting was most likely the result of a drug dispute. "Having talked to some local people and to security forces, what I am hearing is that it was not sectarian but that it was related to a dispute over drugs.
"But that is not to diminish the brutality of the murder. It is a shock to people, particularly those who have had this inflicted on them on their own doorstep."
Sinn FΘin Assembly member Mr Gerry Kelly blamed the UDA for the shooting.
"Whether they are destroying homes, throwing pipe bombs, or killing perceived enemies, the UDA is in reality a sectarian band of drug dealers," he said.