Armed Garda patrols are to be increased in Dublin's north inner city following the gangland-style shooting dead of a man early yesterday.
The killing was the second gangland murder this month to be attributed to a feud between rival criminal factions in the inner city which local gardaí now fear could escalate out of the control.
The latest victim, named locally as Stephen Ledden (28), was shot in the head as he lay on a couch in the downstairs room of his family home at Oriel Street in the Sheriff Street area of Dublin.
The killer entered the house through an unlocked front door just before 12.30am yesterday, despite saturation policing in the area following recent tit-for-tat attacks between the feuding factions.
Garda sources last night said they believed Mr Ledden was shot because it was rumoured in the area that he was behind the shooting dead of criminal Gerard Batt Byrne, of Ferryman's Crossing, Dublin, who was killed in the IFSC on December 13th. Mr Byrne was killed because he had become embroiled in a feud between well-known criminals in the inner city.
The feud is linked to an assault on a woman a number of years ago, with attacks between the two sides escalating in recent months.
Garda sources said it had been rumoured in the area that Mr Ledden had carried out the Byrne murder. However, detectives have not ruled out the possibility that this information was inaccurate and that Mr Ledden, who had a two-month- old baby, was targeted in error.
It has also emerged that gardaí were carrying out surveillance in the immediate area at the time of the shooting. However, despite this, sources said Mr Ledden's killer was not seen by gardaí entering or exiting the house.
At least four other people were upstairs in the house at the time of the killing, but said they did not hear the attacker.
Independent TD Tony Gregory said the fact that the murder could happen "almost under the noses" of gardaí indicated how difficult it was to prevent such killings "if people are determined to and have the wherewithal to kill each other".
He said Mr Ledden and Mr Byrne were minor players in the feud between local drug-dealing criminals. He feared more senior gang members may now target each other.
In 2003 Mr Ledden was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting to his involvement in armed robberies between March and June 2002. He took part in the armed robbery of €43,000 from the Jurys Inn hotel on Custom House Quay and also threatened staff at gunpoint in the Strand House Inn on North Strand Road.