Police described as "a brutal execution" the murder of a man in north Belfast yesterday. The man, named locally as Mr Martin Taylor of Prestwick Park, was shot several times by two gunmen while he was working at a house in the loyalist Ballysillan area.
The RUC said it would not rule out the possibility that the murder was part of an ongoing loyalist feud.
Mr Taylor (36) died at the scene. Another man, who was working on a wall outside the house in Silverstream Park at around 11.30 a.m., escaped without injury despite what police described as "indiscriminate" gunfire.
An eyewitness said two men jumped out of a Vauxhall Cavalier which skidded to a halt outside number 28. An RUC spokesman said a masked man fired a number of shots at the two men.
Supt John Brannigan added: "It was indiscriminate shooting and bullets were sprayed the entire length of Silverstream Park and beyond that. Indeed, a number of parked cars and a horse were shot.
"The deceased was struck a number of times and died instantly, we believe. The car sped off up Silverstream Park and we appeal for information regarding that red Cavalier car, which was stolen from Banbridge between 10.30 p.m. and 8 a.m."
Supt Brannigan added: "This was a brutal execution, totally reckless. They obviously had it well planned. They knew their intended targets."
A motive has yet to be established. Although police have ruled out a sectarian motive, they could not rule out that the killing was related to a loyalist feud.
An eyewitness who was working about 40 yards from the attack, Mr Robert Anderson, said he lost count of how many shots were fired.
"I saw the fellow hit the ground and the other fellow started to run down this way. They kept shooting at him as he ran," he said.
Around 15 shots are believed to have been fired, and a horse being taken from a nearby field was hit.
"It was very fortunate that a number of people have not been killed or injured as a result of this shooting," said Supt Brannigan.
Mr Anderson said he saw the dead man being shot in the neck and head. A police spokesman added that he had been hit in the upper body. One gunman wore a balaclava and the other wore a baseball cap.
The car used in the shooting, registration MIB 1172, was later found burnt out at Gibsonstown Road, Templepatrick.
The PUP Assembly Member, Mr Billy Hutchinson, said he knew both the targeted men. Appealing for calm, he said: "I am totally shocked at this minute, and I have to say I am very angry. We thought all this was over."
Mr Hutchinson, who "guaranteed" that the UVF were not involved in the shooting, said if the killing was related to the murder of the UVF commander, Mr Richard Jameson, "then it was drug dealers, not loyalists" who were responsible for it.
"There are a number of people who I hold responsible, and they see themselves as loyalists, but I think they have a lot to answer for in this community. I know that if this thing is linked back [to the Jameson killing] that there will be more deaths."
This was the second daylight gun attack in the area this week: at 8 a.m. on Wednesday a workman believed to be from Dungannon escaped a motorcycle gunman on the Oldpark Road.
The 30-year-old married man later told the UDP, which has links to the UDA and UFF, that his life was saved because the gun jammed.
He was said to be an associate of a loyalist fundamentalist preacher with LVF connections. The getaway motorcycle was found burnt out at Prestwick Park in Ballysillan.
The LVF is said to have formed close links with the UFF in recent months, and it is not clear which organisation, if any, was responsible for yesterday's murder. A post-mortem was due to be carried out yesterday afternoon.
The attack was condemned by Mr Nigel Dodds of the DUP. "I am extremely concerned at the upsurge in terrorist attacks in north Belfast over the past week. Ordinary people on the ground do not want their area turned into a killing field," he said.
North Belfast SDLP councillor Martin Morgan also condemned the murder. He said: "By their actions, especially over the past two years in north Belfast, certain loyalist paramilitaries have clearly betrayed their own community and the people of north Belfast."
An Alliance councillor for the area, Mr Tom Campbell, condemned the murder "unreservedly". He said: "It is vitally important that this murder does not spark off a new cycle, with reprisal after reprisal. We have to learn who or what organisation was responsible for this action.
"However, it is clear to Alliance that organisations that are officially on ceasefire must not be allowed to commit murder with impunity."
The Sinn Fein Assembly Member, Mr Gerry Kelly, said that viewed in the context of Wednesday's UFF statement, in which the organisation ruled out decommissioning, the murder took on increased significance.
Mr Kelly called for nationalists in north Belfast to remain vigilant. "While it appears this killing may have been part of a loyalist feud, nationalists will none the less be very concerned by this action.
"The history of loyalist feuds in north Belfast is that they almost inevitably lead to the killing of innocent Catholics," he said.