A murder investigation is continuing today after a man was shot dead as he locked up a family-run shop in west Dublin last night.
The killing, which had all the hallmarks of a gangland attack, took place in Mulhuddart at 8.30pm. It was the 21st murder involving firearms in the Republic this year.
The dead man was named locally as 23-year-old Jason Egan, whose family is originally from the north inner city area of Dublin. It is believed Mr Egan had recently been living in Blanchardstown.
Garda sources said Mr Egan was locking up a newsagent’s shop run by his family on the junction of Parlickstown Road and Ladyswell Road in Mulhuddart when a gunman approached him and fired a number of shots from a handgun.
The killer fled from the immediate vicinity on foot.
The emergency services were alerted immediately and Mr Egan was attended o by paramedics at the scene. He was then taken by ambulance to the nearby Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital less than an hour after he was shot.
Gardaí sealed off the murder scene and a full examination will be carried out today by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.
A postmortem on the dead man’s remains is also expected to take place today.
Garda sources said it was unclear how many times Mr Egan had been shot. However, the same sources said it appeared that at least four shots were fired by the gunman and that a number of them struck the victim in the upper body.
Gardaí believe that a close associate of Mr Egan is involved in gangland crime.
Detectives were working last night to try to establish a motive for the murder. Sources said one line of inquiry was that he was killed by people who wanted to “get at” the gangland figure to whom he was close.
Garda sources also said it was possible that a west Dublin gang believed Mr Egan had witnessed, or had information about, a gangland murder. They said the gang may have believed that Mr Egan could implicate them in the murder and so they had decided to shoot him.However, they stressed that they were at a very early stage of the investigation.
Gardaí appealed for members of the public to come forward to assist with the investigation.
They said they were keen to speak with anyone who may have seen a male wearing dark clothing running from the Centrepoint shop at Parslickstown where he may have got into a waiting car.
Gardaí also appealed for information in relation to two cars that were discovered burned out at about 9.30pm last night.
The first was a black Toyota Landcruser which was found at Raynestown outside Dunshaughlin and the second is a red Volkswagen Golf which was found at Valley Park Drive in Finglas. No further details about these vehicles were available.
"While gardaí are not linking either of these cars directly with the incident they are keen to speak to anyone that may have information relating to their movement," a Garda statement said.
Anyone who can assist or who may have information relating to the shooting is asked to contact Blanchardstown Garda station, the Garda Confidential telephone line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.