The Police Service of Northern Ireland has roundly condemned the murder of 33-year-old Michael McGibbon on Emfield Street, Belfast yesterday night.
A senior PSNI officer has remarked that the incident "bears all the hallmarks of a paramilitary murder."
McGibbon, who had no criminal history, had received threats in the day before his murder.
Detective Superintendent John McVea made the following statement:
“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.
What happened in that alleyway last night robbed a family of a treasured husband and father.
There is nothing that can justify or explain the senselessness of this murder. And let’s be clear, that is what we are talking about here, murder.
Michael McGibbon was a local man. As I’ve said, he was a husband and a father. He was also a taxi driver who was well known in his community.
He was a man with no criminal record, no apparent criminal connections or associations and today we are talking about his murder. There is no rationalising that.
This killing bears all the hallmarks of a paramilitary murder. Those who carried it out have no legitimacy in this community and today I am asking the community to help us find them. Help us bring justice to the McGibbon family."
https://twitter.com/PoliceServiceNI/status/721320670295113728
