A man shot dead as he lay sleeping with his girlfriend in his north Belfast flat may have been the victim of a personal vendetta, police said today.
The man, 39, was shot once in the face at close range at his top floor flat in Brookvale Avenue in the Antrim Road area of the city.
Detective Superintendent Roy Suitters said that while nothing was being entirely ruled out, he did not believe the murder was sectarian or paramilitary-related.
"I'm not ruling anything in or out at this stage. I don't have anything to say it was sectarian or paramilitary. My belief was that it wasn't," he said.
Asked if it was the result of a personal feud, he said: "That's one of the lines of inquiry we are looking at, to see the victim's personal history."
It is believed that the gang used a sledgehammer to break into the back of the three-storey house shortly before 3 a.m.
Two masked men then made their way to the top floor flat, switched on the light of the small room and shot their victim at close range with a pistol. He died at the scene.
Mr Suitters said the victim's partner had been too distraught to talk to police.
"She is obviously very traumatised. It was an horrendous experience for her. The gunmen switched the light on and she saw them shoot her boyfriend."
The couple had shared the flat with the victim's brother, who was in another room at the time. He rang the police after the shooting.
While he couldn't say whether it was a professional hit, Mr Suitters said the attack had been planned in advance: "It wasn't something that was spur of the moment." PA