Police in Northern Ireland say they do not believe there was a sectarian motive behind the shooting dead of a former senior IRA figure in Belfast this morning.
Gerard 'Jock' Davison was shot a number of times close to the community centre where he worked in Welsh Street in the Markets area of the city.
Mr Davison was questioned by police and later released without charge following the murder of Robert McCartney outside Magennis' Bar in Belfast city centre in January 2005.
The father-of-three who was also a grandfather had been making his way to work when he was shot.
As the IRA officer commanding in Belfast, Mr Davison was one of the most well-known republican figures in the city.
PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Justyn Galloway said Mr Davison, was shot a number of times.
However, he said he did not believe the shooting was sectarian.
"I do not believe dissident republicans have been involved. However, we will keep an open mind as information comes into the inquiry.
"Many people in Northern Ireland have a past, but that is in the past and there is no justification for the gunning down of this community worker," he said.
Sinn Féin South Belfast Stormont assembly member Alex Maskey said: "What we have had here today is a very brutal killing of a local man.
"He is a very well-known person in this area. His family are well-known and he is very well-regarded in this area as a long-standing republican."
NI Justice Minister David Ford condemned the killing and said: "There can be no excuse, explanation or rational reason why another family should be made to suffer through the taking of a life.
"Those who carried out this heinous crime have no place in our community."
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan condemned the shooting, which took place in a residential area as people were going to work and children going to school.
In a statement he said today's shooting and other attacks in recent days in Derry and Belfast displayed a callous disregard for others and undermine the greater good.
"Those who murder, or who attempt to do so, seek only to bring us back to a past which the community has left behind. I call on anyone with information on these attacks to bring it to the attention of the PSNI," he said.
