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paramilitary killing
Police hunt two men who called to house of Belfast murder victim
The attack happened in north Belfast last night. The victim was shot in the leg.
Updated 8pm
A MAN HAS died following a shooting in north Belfast.
The attack happened shortly after 10pm last night at Butler Place, close to the Elmfield Street area of the city.
The 33-year-old, identified as husband and father Michael McGibbon, was shot three times in a leg in an alleyway.
He was taken to Royal Victoria Hospital but later died from his injuries.
The PSNI has asked for witnesses or anyone with information about this “heinous crime” to come forward.
In a statement this afternoon, PSNI Detective Superintendent John McVea said:
Michael was brutally and callously shot a number of times in the leg in an alleyway in a densely populated urban area. Despite the best efforts of his wife Joanne immediately after the attack, she was unable to save him and Michael tragically passed away following emergency surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
The victim had no criminal record and no apparent criminal connections.
The PSNI has said that the attack bears the hallmarks of a paramilitary murder and that those who carried it out have no legitimacy within the community.
Thursday
Two men had called to Michael’s home on the evening of last Thursday 14 April, asking him to step outside, a statement from the force today said.
When he refused they said that they would return.
The first male is described as having been in his early twenties, slim and wearing a red hooded top with a baseball cap and a scarf over his face.
The other male is described as being in his late teens, with a grey hooded top, a baseball cap and a scarf over his face.
The PSNI has appealed for these men, or anyone who knows their identity, to come forward to allow them to be eliminated from the enquiry.
It has also said that other people in the area may have been visited in a similar fashion in the past weeks, and they should come forward if this is the case.
Anyone with any information about the incident can contact the non-emergency number on 101 or 048 90650222 from the Republic of Ireland.
Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously on 0800 555111.
- First published 9.25am
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