LOYALIST paramilitaries are widely believed to have been responsible for a gun attack on a Catholic butcher on the outskirts of north Belfast yesterday.
Mr Kieran Delaney (23), from the Bawnmore estate, was shot as he waited for a lift to work near the loyalist Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey.
A gunman wearing a postman's uniform opened fire on him as he stood with a friend on Church Road around 7.30 a.m. One shot was discharged but the attacker's gun then jammed.
Mr Delaney attempted to run away from the scene but collapsed a few hundred yards away. Passers by found him lying at the side of the road in a pool of blood.
He was taken by car to hospital, where he was treated for a shoulder wound. His condition is described as stable. The car used in the attack was later found burnt out in Rathcoole.
The RUC conducted searches in the area but nothing is believed to have been found. A police spokesman said that a motive had not yet been established for the attack. However, it is understood that detectives believe loyalists were responsible. The attack calls further into question the validity of the loyalist ceasefire.
Mr Delaney's family said he had been targeted three weeks earlier. They said three men, one hooded, approached him as he waited for work. They carried a white bag which Mr Delaney believed contained a gun. He ran off.
His family said he had reported the incident to the RUC but they claimed the police did not take it seriously and told him to stop being paranoid. Mr Delaney's father, John, said his son had received a threatening letter a year ago. "We are watching you", it warned.
He added that his son had no political involvement and was being singled out just because he was a Catholic. "All he does is go to his work and go out for a few pints at the weekend."