GARDAÍ ARE investigating whether the murder of Anthony Foster in Coolock, north Dublin, last Friday is linked to the shooting of a man in Darndale on Friday, July 4th.
Detectives are now investigating intelligence suggesting the same contract killer carried out both attacks. However, sources insisted the investigation was at an early stage.
However, they have ruled out a link between those shootings and the murder of Trevor Walsh in Finglas in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The 33-year-old was shot in a garden of a house on Kippure Avenue in Finglas, north Dublin, shortly after midnight on Saturday.
It is believed he was hit by at least four bullets from a handgun in the neck and chest. A lone gunman wearing a hooded top fled the scene on a bicycle.
The victim, from Valley Park Road, Finglas, was taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown, but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
Mr Walsh was on temporary release from Mountjoy Prison, having been let out of prison last Friday. He had served just over two years of a three-year sentence for possession of a firearm in Finglas in 2004. He had nearly 50 convictions for various offences, including drug dealing.
Mr Foster was killed by a single shot to the head as he left his top-floor flat in Cromcastle Court in Coolock with his partner, who was not injured. The pair were going to the local creche to collect their children.
The killer left Mr Foster on the balcony of the flats and escaped on a waiting motorcycle, which gardaí believe was stolen a short while earlier from a motorcycle shop on the Malahide Road.
The shop owner was threatened with a shotgun and tied up during the robbery.
Mr Foster was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in 2001 for handling cannabis resin worth £30,000 in April 2000. The court heard at that time that £20,000 found at Mr Foster's home was the proceeds of drug dealing.
While handling the drugs, he was working with drug addicts at the Merchant's Quay rehabilitation project in Dublin.
Gardaí are investigating a link between his death and the attempted murder of a Dublin man in Darndale on Friday, July 4th.
The 21-year-old man was shot in the neck and back as he sat in the driver's seat of a car at Buttercup Park. A gunman walked up to the car and began discharging shots from a revolver through the window.
Gardaí believe at least five shots were fired and possibly a sixth. He was rushed to Beaumont Hospital and received emergency surgery.
A 20-month-old baby, who was in the back seat of the car, was taken by ambulance to Temple Street hospital. He was treated for wounds caused by shattered glass.
Gardaí believe they know the identity of the attacker and also the motive for the attempted murder.
The victim had just been released from prison, where he was serving a sentence for abusing his former partner and their child.
Mr Walsh's death is not thought to be connected to the two shootings or to a gangland feud in the Finglas area.
Gardaí in Finglas said yesterday they were following two definite lines of inquiry into Mr Walsh's death, but did not believe it was linked to the killing of Mr Foster.
Mr Walsh was a "mouthpiece", was known to have made a few enemies and had stepped on the wrong toes, Garda sources said.
It is also understood that he was in conflict with a number of prisoners during his time in Mountjoy Prison, as a result of which there was a serious grievance against him.