A murder inquiry was under way yesterday after a man was gunned down in a gangland-style killing at his home on Dublin's northside.
Gardaí have not ruled out the possibility the dead man was killed in a case of mistaken identity. He had been released from prison only last Friday.
The victim, 28-year-old Kevin Ledwidge, was shot in the chest with a shotgun after he answered the door at the family home in Finglas just after 9.30am.
He fell back into the hallway of the house, at Ratoath Drive, where he died from his injuries almost immediately.
The gunman ran from the house to a waiting grey coloured Opel Vectra. He was driven away at speed by an accomplice. However, the two men crashed the car a short time later, abandoning it on Ratoath Avenue and fleeing the area on foot.
Gardaí say a number of people saw the killers, who were apparently not wearing balaclavas or other disguises, and have given them detailed descriptions.
The gunman is described as being in his 20s, of medium build with short black greying hair. He wore a black hooded top under a blue tracksuit top. The driver was also described as being in his 20s, with light brown spiked hair and chubby cheeks.
Informed Garda sources said while the attackers may have been planning to burn out their getaway car to destroy forensic evidence, this plan had to be abandoned when the getaway driver crashed the vehicle.
"We'd be hopeful there's fingerprint or other forensics in the car," said one Garda source.
Detectives investigating the killing believe it is linked to a localised feud between "minor" criminals from Finglas and they are exploring two definite lines of inquiry. One is that the dead man was killed by known local criminals after becoming involved in a row with them in a local pub on Saturday night.
Ledwidge had been released from prison last Friday after being granted bail pending an appeal against an assault conviction.
The second theory is that an associate of the dead man, rather than Ledwidge, was the intended target and that the killers were expecting this second man to answer the call to the door yesterday morning. This second man has been the target of two recent shootings in the immediate vicinity of yesterday's murder in the past month after falling out with local criminals.
In one of the shootings a man was wounded in the neck while standing in the hallway of a house but survived.
On a second occasion two men were shot at outside a house shortly after a drug-related on-street altercation in Finglas. A pump action shotgun was used in the attack with the two victims sustaining minor pellet wounds to the buttocks.
Gardaí say while Ledwidge was known to them he was not regarded as a major criminal figure. He was a suspected small-time street dealer who was known as a heavy drinker with a propensity for violence.
In 2003 he was jailed for 15 months after he threw a machete at a truck driver and chased him down the street. The driver was forced to abandon his vehicle and shout at passing motorists to call gardaí. When apprehended by gardaí Ledwidge resisted arrest by threatening them with the weapon.
Supt John Harnett of Blanchardstown Garda station, who is leading the murder investigation, yesterday appealed for anyone who may have witnessed any part of the incident - either the shooting itself or the car being abandoned, or who may have any other information to offer in relation - to contact gardaí.
He asked anybody with information to call Finglas Garda station on (01) 6667500.