Politicians from both sides of the community have appealed for calm after a Catholic council worker was murdered in a gun attack in Portadown, Co Armagh.
Mr Adrian Lamph who was 29, area of the town with his girlfriend and two-year-old son. Mr Lamph had four brothers, one of whom is a well-known businessman in Portadown. The RUC said a lone gunman on a mountain bike entered the council yard where Mr Lamph was working, and opened fire on him shortly before 4 p.m, hitting him twice in the head and back. The gunman was dressed in dark clothing, had a red, white and blue football scarf, and was wearing a baseball cap.
Tensions had already running high in the town as the marching season approaches and Orangemen prepare to parade from Drumcree. No organisation has so far claimed responsibility for the attack but local people blamed the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), which had issued a statement earlier this week opposing the peace deal and pledging to continue its campaign.
The LVF has killed about a dozen Catholics since its formation in 1996.
The yard where Mr Lamph was gunned down is located off Duke Street in the loyalist Fair Green. He was sweeping up at the time. Sources close to the LVF said it was refusing to comment on the shooting. They added that INLA members had recently been seen touring loyalist areas of the town and this had "deeply angered" the LVF. However, local people said Mr Lamph had no paramilitary connections and described the attack as randomly sectarian. "He was shot simply because he was a Catholic," one man said.
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said: "This cowardly attack will be utterly repugnant to all members of the community. While it is too early to speculate on the motive, the incident comes at a crucial time in the run-up to the referendum."
She appealed for no retaliation "in any way which might endanger the peace process".
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said he was appalled that "even in the climate of hope created by the Good Friday agreement, violent elements will seek to drag Northern Ireland down the evil path of conflict".
The DUP said it was a "dastardly attack on a man simply earning his living". SDLP councillor Ms Dolores Kelly said the at tack was not just on a man trying to do his job but on the entire community.
"It was carried out by those who do not wish to see the agreement work," she said.
Sinn Fein councillor Mr John O'Dowd appealed to nationalists in Portadown to be vigilant but to remain calm "in the face of this latest provocation". "Whoever was responsible, the motive was clearly to intimidate, frighten and drive fear into the nationalist community in the area. Previous attempts to do this have failed. Nationalists will not be intimidated. Those responsible for this attack need to get that message."
The Workers Party said the shooting should strengthen the resolve of those who supported the peace deal. The chief executive of Craigavon Borough Council, Mr Trevor Rainey, also condemned the killing.
Two nationalist councillors for Portadown also joined the condemnation of the murder. Mr Brendan MacCionnaith and Mr Joe Duffy, said "the thoughts of all right-thinking people within the community would be with the family (of Mr Lamph) in their hour of grief."
Mr MacCionnaith said he believed the shooting was the work of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, and condemned also what he referred to as "incendiary and hate-filled speeches" made recently in the town by members of the DUP.
Mr Duffy appealed for people not to be provoked "in any way" by the murder of Mr Lamph, and advised local Catholics to exercise "extreme caution" in the near future.
The Ulster Unionist mayor of Craigavon, Mr Kenneth Twyble, said those responsible had nothing to offer the people of Northern Ireland or the future.