The shooting of a man in Newtownabbey on the outskirts of north Belfast has been described as a "ruthless, careless killing". The killing happened in the Longlands area at about 20:30 BST on Thursday. It is understood the victim was shot six times and died at the scene. At least two men are believed to have been involved in the attack. Police are investigating a link to a burnt-out silver Volkswagen Bora found in Ardmollen Place in west Belfast. It had earlier been hijacked. Sinn Fein Newtownabbey Councillor Gerry O'Reilly said there was "shock and anger" in the area at the murder. He said there was speculation among residents that dissident republicans were responsible for the attack, which he said happened in the man's home. "He is a local man, the man has lived there all his life," he added. "I was told he was in a relationship and there was a child." Mr O'Reilly said children were playing in the street outside at the time of the shooting and people were at shops "within yards" of the incident. He said the killers needed "to be taken off our streets to prevent this happening again". "The local community is in a state of shock. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time," he said. "What is abundantly clear though, is that those responsible have shown absolute disregard for this community and endangered those nearby through this reckless and dangerous action. "I would appeal to anyone with any information to make it known to the PSNI as soon as possible. There can be no justification whatsoever for this type of attack and those behind it need taken off our streets." ----------------------- Come on Ciaran you skinny jean wearing bastard, post to tell us you're okay.
That's not very nice. I know he likes a lie in so hopefully he's doing just that #praythatciaranhasntbeenshotdeadinbelfast
