Loyalist paramilitaries were tonight suspected of bludgeoning a man to death. Detectives launched a murder hunt after James McMahon (21) died in hospital.
He had been beaten with bats by a gang close to the River Lagan in Lisburn, Co Antrim.
The victim and two friends were chased by three masked men last night as they walked home after a night out in the city.
Mr McMahon, who had just started a new job with Coca-Cola, was cornered and battered as the pair with him escaped to raise the alarm.
When police and ambulance crews arrived they found him slumped on the ground with severe head injuries.
Mr McMahon, from the Lisburn area, had emergency treatment in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast but died earlier today.
Detectives have yet to establish a motive, but said the attack bore the hallmarks of a paramilitary-style assault.
Detective Superintendent Mr Paul Hamlin said: "This is just brutality we see so, so often here.
"We call them paramilitary-style assaults, but it's just thuggish behaviour.
"They have struck a young man down and killed him.
"For this to happen to a young man in the prime of his life who would appear to be doing nothing wrong, to be viciously assaulted in this way is a disgrace."
Police have not ruled out a sectarian motive for the attack on Mr McMahon, who is believed to be a Catholic.
Mr Seamus Close, the Alliance Party representative in Lisburn, launched a scathing attack on the murderers.
He said: "These thugs should remove their masks and hand themselves in to the police, and pretend they are men rather than scum."