Armed Garda patrols in west Dublin have been increased after a man was murdered in a gun attack early yesterday.
The killing comes at the end of a week that saw a number of shootings.
Paul Cunningham (23) of Dromheath Avenue, Mulhuddart, was shot dead in his bedroom, where his partner and an 18-month-old child were also sleeping. According to a post-mortem, he was shot at least twice with a shot gun.
The two killers escaped from the house on foot, although gardaí were investigating the possibility that they were picked up in a car. It is understood the dead man was a suspect in a number of serious gun crimes committed in the last fortnight.
Gardaí started Operation Crossover II in recent weeks to focus local gardaí and armed members of the Emergency Response Unit resources on a dozen gangland figures and their associates, in west Dublin
Cunningham is thought to have been one of the two men who attempted to rob the TSB in Sutton Cross, Dublin last Thursday week with Declan Curran (24).
Curran was arrested at the scene but died last Sunday morning of suspected natural causes while in custody at Cloverhill Prison.
Within hours of Curran's death two houses in Finglas were attacked, included the firing of shots at the house of a man Curran is alleged to have murdered last year.
Cunningham was well known to gardaí and had about 20 previous convictions.