Jim Guiney never stood a chance. His killers had no difficulty in finding him. The sign above his business at Kingsway, Dunmurry, reads "Jim's Carpet Showroom". Inside, the small shop is packed with rolls of carpets and linoleum. When the gunmen entered, Mr Guiney had nowhere to run.
Dunmurry is on the outskirts of south-west Belfast. Shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday, two armed INLA men entered the shop. Eyewitnesses said one was wearing a wig. They opened fire on Mr Guiney from point-blank range. The RUC said the victim, who was alone in the shop, was shot several times and died almost immediately.
The gunmen ran out of the shop, around the back of the premises, across railway lines and into a waiting car in Harris Park. It is believed the car was hijacked two hours earlier in the nearby nationalist Suffolk area. It was found ablaze in the Twinbrook Estate in west Belfast six minutes after the shooting.
Local traders who knew Mr Guiney gathered outside the shop as the news spread. Many young women were in tears. Bunches of flowers were left at the scene. Five hours later, Mr Guiney's body was removed in a large black van.
The North's Security Minister, Mr Adam Ingram, described the killing as horrific. "This was an appalling attack carried out in broad daylight in a busy area, in front of people going about their everyday business.
"The recent cycle of violence must stop now before others are killed and more families are left to grieve. These murders are completely futile. They cannot in any way add to the search for a permanent and lasting peace in Northern Ireland."
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the INLA and the Loyalist Volunteer Force wanted to draw the North "back into a downward spiral of violence, sectarian murder and instability".
The Labour-Northern Ireland Party, which is represented at the Stormont talks, said that the killers hoped to derail the talks. "It is simply not acceptable that a minority opposed to the current peace process can dictate to representatives of the overwhelming majority who are seeking solutions that can benefit all the people of Northern Ireland," a spokesman said.
Mr John Lowry, the Workers' Party's Northern chairman, said it was another senseless shooting. "Sinister sectarian elements on all sides who are trying through murder and intimidation to destroy any hopes of peace must not be allowed to do so. Tit-for-tat murders serve no purpose only to bring grief and sadness to another family."
The anti-paramilitary group, Families Against Intimidation and Terror, said the killers were despicable. "The INLA have often claimed that they are anti-sectarian republican socialists, committed to the ideology of James Connolly. However, today's killing was nothing more than sectarian slaughter and shows the INLA are a band of blood-thirsty bigots, just as bad as the LVF.
"If James Connolly were alive today, I have no doubt he would be appalled by the actions of the INLA." However, in a statement the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the INLA's political wing, said it was nationalists who were under threat from loyalists.
The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said the INLA and the LVF must not be allowed to frustrate attempts by the majority in the North to reach a negotiated settlement.
"It is absolutely essential that all parties intensify their efforts to ensure that the talks make progress. In particular, all the participants must take care not to do or say anything that makes it more difficult for any party to remain in the process," he said.
Mr De Rossa acknowledged Sinn Fein's disappointment at the British-Irish document published last week but appealed to the party to remain within the process.