Three people have been arrested after a man was beaten to death in front of his pregnant wife and two children, aged four and eight, in west Belfast.
30-year-old John Mongan was killed when a gang of men armed with hatchets and machetes burst into his house on Fallswater Street off the Falls Road.
His wife received cuts to her head and was taken to hospital.
Windows in the man's vehicle parked outside the house were smashed by the gang as they escaped.
The three people being questioned are two men aged 32 and 37 and a 68-year-old woman. The men were detained at separate addresses in Co Derry.
PSNI detectives have appealed for information and are particularly interested in the movements of a large dark-coloured vehicle seen leaving the scene.
The victim's brother said he could think of no reason why he had been killed.
SDLP Assembly member Alex Attwood described the killing as a brutal and savage murder.
He said it appeared to be part of an ongoing local dispute and did not appear to involve illegal organisations.
Mr Attwood said it was essential that people co-operate with the PSNI investigation, so that those who carried out the killing were quickly apprehended.
The victim was a member of the Travelling community who had previously been attacked. The family had moved to the area just before Christmas.
Police have appealed for calm.
