NI police view CCTV for clues on west Belfast murder

Police in the North are viewing hours of CCTV footage and conducting door-to-door inquiries in a bid to establish a motive for the murder of a 26-year-old man in Belfast.

Kieran McManus was shot a number of times at close range as he stood talking to three friends outside a Domino's Pizza shop on Kennedy Way, in west Belfast, at about 11.20pm on Saturday night.

The father of one worked as a delivery driver for the pizza chain. He died later in hospital. Eyewitness reports claimed the gunman addressed his victim by name.

The murder is not believed to have been sectarian and the PSNI said they were still following a "number of lines of inquiry".

Detective Chief Inspector Karen Baxter appealed for members of the public to come forward with information, saying: “We know there were people in the area, we know there are people who have information, and we desperately appeal to those people to contact us.”

Family feuds

Community sources have suggested Mr McManus may have been the victim of a feud. He is originally from Norglen Parade, in the Turf Lodge housing estate in west Belfast, where a number of family feuds rage. Some of these feuds have paramilitary and/or drugs connections.

Mr McManus was known to police and two years ago appeared in court in connection with an armed attack involving a Samurai sword in Turf Lodge.

“His family was definitely involved in a feud going back a couple of years – that’s why they moved away from Turf Lodge,” said a source. “Whether his murder is as a direct result of that still isn’t clear.”

West Belfast SDLP councillor Tim Attwood said the murder was “very brutal indeed”.

He said: “This was not a so-called punishment attack gone wrong. The people who did this set out to kill. This was very cruel, very heartless.

“Whatever the circumstances behind this murder, a family was left devastated and grieving for their loved one on Easter Sunday.”

Sinn Féin MLA Paul Maskey said the community had been left “angry” by the incident. “It’s so shocking that someone can be killed while going about their work like this,” he said.