Loyalist paramilitaries were last night suspected of bludgeoning a man to death.
Detectives launched a murder hunt after Mr James McMahon (21) died in hospital.
He had been beaten with bats by a gang close to the Lagan river in Lisburn, Co Antrim.
The victim and two friends were chased by three masked men on Thursday night as they walked home after a night out in the city. Mr McMahon, who had just started a new job with Coca-Cola, was cornered and battered as the pair with him escaped to raise the alarm.
When police and ambulance crews arrived, they found him slumped on the ground with severe head injuries. Mr McMahon, from the Lisburn area, had emergency treatment in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast but died early yesterday.
Detectives have yet to establish a motive, but said the attack bore the hallmarks of a paramilitary-style assault.
Det Supt Paul Hamlin said: "This is just brutality we see so often here. We call them paramilitary-style assaults, but it's just thuggish behaviour.
"For this to happen to a young man in the prime of his life who would appear to be doing nothing wrong, to be viciously assaulted in this way is a disgrace." - (PA)