The Protestant man shot last week from close range by a loyalist gunman in Waterside, Derry, has died from his injuries. George Jackson reports.
Mr Darren Thompson (22), Harkness Park, died in Altnagelvin Hospital yesterday afternoon. He was critically wounded when he was shot in the left eye as he walked through Woodburn Park on his way to work on a building site in the hospital grounds last Wednesday morning.
His parents, his two brothers and two sisters were at his bedside when he died.
The police said those responsible for Mr Thompson's murder had access to loyalist paramilitary weapons. They added that the murder was not the result of a loyalist paramilitary feud.
The dispute between rival loyalist fringe factions started in Tullyally in Waterside last August when several dozen men were involved in a series of incidents.
Two weeks ago, the dispute escalated when a man was shot in the stomach in a bar in Tullyally. Earlier this week, a family of six escaped injury when a pipe bomb was attached to their car in the same estate.
Amid fears of reprisals, the PSNI, local politicians and community leaders have appealed for calm. Security force patrols are to be stepped up in Waterside, which is mostly deserted at night-time since the shooting.
After Mr Thompson was shot, the gunman ran into the nearby Lincoln Courts estate.
Yesterday following a search operation of a house in the estate, police said they found six coffee-jar bombs which were primed and made of home-made explosives, two pipe-bombs, several blast-bombs, a pistol and material for making incendiary bombs.
Two men and a woman were last night still being questioned about Mr Thompson's murder and about what a PSNI spokesman described as the discovery of a loyalist bomb factory.
Det Supt Patrick Steele said yesterday that the immediate prognosis after Mr Thompson had been shot was that he would not survive his injuries.
"We knew from an early stage that he was likely to die. We are focusing on individuals whom I believe were involved in the murder, the motivation for which is not entirely clear."
Det Supt Steele added: "I would say to the vermin responsible, who are a small-minded minority of this community, that they will be relentlessly pursued, arrested and brought before the courts. I have my strong suspicion as to who was responsible for this murder.
"As far as the Thompson family are concerned, they are devastated," he said.