PROMINENT loyalist John Boreland has been shot dead in North Belfast.
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John Boreland, a member of the Ulster Defense Association, was killed in a Protestant area of the city on Sunday evening.
Tensions among loyalist paramilitaries and criminality are among a number of lines of inquiry, detectives said.
“Our early assessment is that this was not a sectarian attack”. These include a motorbike, a silver Renault Megan auto and a black Peugeot 307 vehicle.
”I also want to talk to anyone who can assist with completing a picture of Mr Boreland’s movements in the 24 hours leading up to his death”.
Nichola Mallon from the SDLP called for calm after the murder.”It is shocking to hear that another life has been taken in north Belfast”, she said.
First Minister Arlene Foster, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire have all condemned the killing.
The detective said the shooting involved an element of planning, but he would not be drawn on whether he believed the killing was carried out by fellow UDA members or other loyalist paramilitary groups.
“This was shameful & I unreservedly condemn it”.
While a peace deal largely ended the bloody conflict in 1998, a report produced jointly by Northern Ireland’s police and British intelligence agency MI5 found that numerous paramilitary groups continued to exist, though they were not planning attacks.
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Anyone who saw Mr Boreland on Sunday night or was in the area around the time of the shooting has been asked to contact the PSNI.
