The execution-style killing of a known criminal found yesterday in Limerick is thought to be connected to an ongoing gang feud in the city.
The body of the man, in his early 20s, was found dumped in a ditch in a field at the back of the Southill estate on the southside of the city.
He was named locally last night as Michael Campbell-McNamara.
He was well-known to gardaí in Limerick and had served time in prison for a number of offences.
The dead man was originally from the Southill area but had recently been living in the Dublin Road area of Limerick.
The body was discovered by a man out walking his dog on the outskirts of the city shortly before 10 a.m. yesterday morning.
The victim, who was fully clothed, had been shot in the head and his hands and feet had been tied.
Gardaí said it was unclear whether he was killed at the scene or whether he was murdered elsewhere and his body dumped in the field.
Gardaí confirmed that a full murder investigation was under way and said they could not rule out the possibility of a link with a vicious ongoing feud in the city.
"We have an open mind on this investigation. We are ruling nothing in or out at this stage and a full murder investigation is under way," said Supt Gerry Mahon who is leading the investigation.
Supt Mahon, of Roxboro Garda Station, who is being assisted by members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, also confirmed that the murder victim had been bound and gagged.
The launch of the murder inquiry came on the eve of the trial of five men charged with the murder of crime boss Kieran Keane at the Central Criminal Court in Limerick.
Keane (36) was shot dead in a similar killing at Drombana last January, barely two miles away from where Mr Campbell-McNamara's body was found yesterday.
The last gangland killing in Limerick - which claimed the life of John Ryan in July - came on the eve of the first sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Limerick.
The area around yesterday's crime scene was sealed off pending the arrival of forensic experts from Garda headquarters in Dublin and the Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy.
A post-mortem was due to be carried out last night at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
The murder victim's body was dumped just yards from the new Limerick by-pass, which is currently under construction.
When the man walking his dog discovered the body yesterday morning, he alerted nearby construction workers who were carrying out work on the new road.
"He asked me if I had a phone to ring the guards because there was a body in the field. It's lucky that children are all back at school now or else it could have been one of them who found the body," said a construction worker at the scene yesterday.
Garda sources in Limerick said last night the victim had close associations with one of the factions involved in a well-publicised bloody feud in the city.
This feud - largely based on the city's northside - has already claimed three lives in as many years.
However, it is understood that the dead man was also involved in a separate dispute with other factions in the Southill area of the city.
It is believed that Michael Campbell-McNamara had recently armed himself with a high-powered weapon which gardaí believe could have been used in the ongoing feud.