Gardaí believe the murder of a 28-year-old mother of two shot dead in Swords, Co Dublin, on Sunday night is most likely linked to difficulties in her personal life. Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent, reports.
Garda sources described the killing as "efficient" and "a professional hit".
They believe the gunman may have been a hired killer and are following a definite line of inquiry.
It has now emerged that the victim, Latvian Babia Saulite, had been threatened by other foreign nationals in the months before her death.
Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy had told him of the line of inquiry being followed.
"[ Gardaí] have a good deal of leads in the circumstances and I hope that they bring the perpetrator to justice very soon," he said. Anybody who would kill a young mother was "a terrible menace to society".
Ms Saulite's two sons, aged three and five, were in the care of the State last night following their mother's murder.
They had been asleep upstairs in their house in the Holywell estate, Feltrim Road, Swords, as their mother was shot in the hallway just before 10pm.
Their father, Lebanese national Hassan Hassan (35), has been active in organised crime here and is currently in prison in Ireland.
He is serving four years for his role in a Middle Eastern organised crime gang that had been stealing luxury cars to order and exporting them the Eastern Europe for spare parts.
He has been visited in Mountjoy Prison by gardaí who informed him of the murder.
Ms Saulite was smoking a cigarette in the hallway of her house with two friends when her killer struck.
A lone gunman walked up to the doorway of the Holywell Square townhouse, singled out his victim and fired a number of rounds into her upper body. She fell back into the hall and died instantly.
The killer then walked back to a nearby waiting car and was driven by an accomplice out of the estate at speed. The killer was not masked but was wearing heavy clothing and possibly a hat. He used a handgun and fired at least two shots.
A dark-coloured BMW 06 model 520 was found burned out in the Birchdale estate near Swords shortly after the killing. Garda sources said they believed this was the getaway car.
It was only partially burned and was undergoing technical examination yesterday.
Gardaí are anxious to speak to anybody who may have seen anything suspicious close to the murder scene at Holywell Square from 8pm or in the Birchdale estate after 10pm.
The rented house where the murder took place was sealed off throughout yesterday. It underwent a full examination by the Garda Technical Bureau.
State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy carried out a preliminary examination of the dead woman's remains at the scene.
They were then removed to the city morgue where a postmortem was carried out yesterday.
The Holywell estate is a high-density development just off the Feltrim Road.
It is one of a number of estates developed in the area in recent years.
Many of the townhouses are rented to foreign nationals.
Fine Gael's justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe TD said the murder was horrific and highlighted the need for the establishment of close contacts between ethnic minorities and gardaí.
Anyone with information on the killing is asked to contact Swords gardaí on (01) 6664700.