Loyalist paramilitaries are the main suspects for the shooting and serious wounding of a 26-year-old man at a graveyard in Holywood, Co Down in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The man was in a critical condition in hospital last night after he was abducted at a petrol service station near Holywood and taken to the nearby Redburn Cemetery, where he suffered a single gunshot wound to the stomach.
Local sources said they believed loyalist paramilitaries were behind the attack, while the divisional PSNI commander Supt Graham Shields said paramilitary involvement was one of the police lines of inquiry. The shooting also triggered local speculation as to whether it was in any way connected to the trouble at Belfast Crown Court last Friday between rival loyalists.
That incident involved clashes outside the courtroom between family members of murdered Red Hand Commando paramilitary and drug dealer Jim Johnston and the supporters of a brother and sister charged in connection with his murder.
Asked about this speculation, a PSNI spokeswoman said it was too early to state what was the motive for yesterday's shooting. "We are at the early stages of our investigation, and are following a number of lines of inquiry," she said.
The man was discovered seriously injured around 2.30am after a woman who was in the vicinity of the cemetery early yesterday heard a single gunshot, followed by the man's calls for help, police reported. She also heard a car driving away from the scene.
Police are treating the shooting as attempted murder. Supt Shields said the injured man was in a position to tell police he had been abducted.
"We were able to speak to him and he was able to tell us that he had been abducted by three or four men from the area of Redburn filling station on the Old Holywood Road," he said.
A primary school near Redburn Cemetery was closed yesterday as police cordoned off the scene and carried out inquiries.
DUP Assembly member Peter Weir condemned the shooting, as did Ulster Unionist MLA Diana Peacocke. She said the town of Holywood was shocked, bewildered and appalled by the shooting.
"It goes without saying that anyone who is in possession of some vital facts regarding this incident should contact the police immediately," she added.
Local Alliance Party councillor Ian Parsley also condemned the shooting and blamed paramilitaries.
"There is great concern in Holywood at the impact that a very small number of people are having in creating a climate of fear and lawlessness in the community," he said. Meanwhile, police are trying to establish whether a man who died from burn injuries in Bangor on Sunday died accidentally.
Police were yesterday still treating the death of Robert Heaney (43), from Kilclief Gardens in the Kilcooley estate, Bangor, as suspicious.
They are also checking, however, whether Mr Heaney could have fallen into a fire at a local drinking den in a wooded area off Balloo Drive in Bangor on Sunday.
Mr Heaney was discovered with severe burns at 8am on Sunday but died from his injuries in hospital that evening. It is understood he had been drinking earlier with a friend.