Gardaí believe the murder of a drug dealer from Drogheda, Co Louth, was a highly organised killing that had been planned weeks in advance. It was the fourth gun murder in 10 days.
The victim, Paul Reay (26), was gunned down yesterday morning just after leaving his house in the town on his way to a court appearance related to the seizure of cocaine valued at €400,000 in August in Co Meath.
His sister, who was with him at the time of yesterday's attack, was wounded in the shoulder. The dead man was a father of three children, including a new-born baby.
He had recently been given advice by gardaí on how to improve his personal security.
Detectives are following a number of lines of inquiry but believe the killing is drugs related. One theory being explored last night was that a drug-dealing gang in west Dublin with whom he had previously done business wanted him dead.
CCTV footage filmed on major roads leading back to Dublin was being studied last night in an effort to track the killers.
Well-placed senior Garda sources said Mr Reay's killers had closely studied his movements. The victim usually wore a bullet-proof vest but his murderers apparently knew he would not be wearing it yesterday because he was going to court.
Gardaí are working on the theory that the two men involved in the early-morning attack dressed as construction workers in order to pass themselves off as employees of a nearby building site. They believe the men may even have loitered in the area dressed in their disguises over a number of mornings this week in an effort to familiarise themselves with the area.
The killers struck as Mr Reay was being driven by his sister from his home at Tredagh View, Marley's Lane, just after 9am. A gunman dressed in a high-visibility jacket got out of a car parked outside the victim's home and approached the Reays' car.
He fired at least five shots from a handgun into the passenger seat where the victim was sitting. Mr Reay was wounded four times in the upper body while his sister, who was driving, was hit once in the shoulder. The gunman then walked backed to his car and was driven at speed from the scene by an accomplice.
Neighbours of Mr Reay rushed to his aid and used blankets to try and stem the blood from his wounds. He was taken by ambulance to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. While still alive on arrival, he died a short time later.
The dead man's sister was said to have been very badly wounded in the shoulder. However, her injuries are not life-threatening and she was recovering in the same hospital last night.
The car used by the killers, a white Mazda 323 with false registration plates, 95 WW 353, was found burned out at Old Bridge just over two miles from the murder scene. It was stolen in Clondalkin two weeks ago.
Supt Gerry Smith of Drogheda Garda station appealed for anybody who was in the Marley's Lane area at the time of the killing or who saw any suspicious activity there in recent days to come forward.
