Gardaí in Swords have appealed to members of the public who may have information relating to a fatal shooting in Swords, Co Dublin, last night to contact them.
The victim was named as Latvian woman Babia Saulite (28). She was hit at least once in the chest by a gunman in the hallway of her home in Holywell Square off Feltrim Road, at around 9.45pm yesterday.
The State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy with Garda Technical Bureau members at the murder scene in Swords today
It is understood the woman's two children, aged three and five, were asleep in the house at the time of the shooting.
Her body has been removed from the scene, which is being examined by a Garda forensics team.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy has carried out a preliminary examination of the woman's body. A postmortem is due to be carried out later today.
A burnt-out dark-coloured BMW that was found around a mile from the scene is being investigated by gardaí. Detectives are also trying to trace a Northern Ireland-registered white Mitsubishi Lancer that was seen speeding from the area.
An incident room has been set up at Swords Garda Station, and anyone with any information is being urged to contact the Gardaí on 01 6664700. Gardaí are particularly interested in talking to anyone who was in the Holywell area of Swords after 8pm, or the Birchdale area after 10pm, where the burnt-out car was found, to contact them.
At a briefing for journalists this afternoon investigating Gardaí said they would be looking into the woman's home life to see if there were any clues to a motive for the shooting.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent, in whose Dáil constituency the shooting took place, said he was shocked at the murder and called for more investment in the Garda in north Dublin.
"Swords now has a population the same as Waterford city," he said. "Swords, therefore, needs many things, but first we need the Garda resources to prevent the growth in criminal activity."
Fine Gael's justice Jim O'Keeffe called for Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to make the resources available to gardaí to help in their dealings with immigrant communities. "In particular, we need to know whether the Garda Síochána is sufficiently equipped to liaise with immigrant communities, in terms of access to interpreters as well as access to past criminal information," he said.