A murder investigation was under way in Dublin last night after a 35- year-old mother was shot in the chest in her home as she was looking after her young children. Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent and John Downes report
The shooting happened just before 10pm when the murderer went to the woman's house at Holywell Square, Swords, Co Dublin, and opened fire inside the property.
Gardaí were alerted to the shooting immediately after it tookplace and were at the scene within minutes. Members of the investigating team found a red BMW car set on fire very close to the murder scene at about the time of the killing.
They were last night trying to establish if the burning of the vehicle was linked to the murder of the woman who is of Middle Eastern origin.
The woman's husband is currently serving a jail sentence for his role in a stolen car exporting racket.
The murder scene was also sealed off and a full examination of it is expected to continue throughout today.
The office of the State Pathologist was also informed about the killing last night.
A postmortem on the victim's remains will begin this morning. However, Garda sources said the woman had been shot in the chest.
Gardaí will also conduct house-to-house inquiries in an effort to establish how the murderer travelled to and from the scene.
The victim was the second female to be shot dead this year.
In March Donna Cleary (22) was gunned down when a gunman opened fire on a house party in Coolock after earlier being refused entry.
The latest death brings to 19 the number of firearm homicides in the State this year.
This compares with a record total of 21 last year. If that figure is surpassed this year, as looks likely, the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, will come under increased pressure from the Opposition about rising levels of crime.
The latest shooting follows a week in which two men were
murdered, one in Dublin and the other in Limerick, and the shooting of a man in the neck in Limerick early yesterday morning.
A team of detectives from the north side of the city had been assembled to investigate last night's murder and held their first case conference late into the night.
They are being backed by members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda's serious crimes squad.
The rise in drug dealing, gun murders and other serious armed crime is likely to be one of the major issues on which next year's general election will be fought.