Gunmen shot a man dead in front of his family before opening fire on his sister, police revealed today.
The detective leading the hunt for two killers who blasted Mark Hall at his home in Rodney Drive in West Belfast said the victim’s sister “tried to intervene” as she spotted the killers as she returned from local shops at around 4.30pm on Saturday.
But the killers opened fire through a window fatally wounding their victim who was in the room with “members of his family”. And as they ran from the scene they fired at Hall’s sister with the shot passing through her handbag. Police say his sister is “lucky to be alive”.
Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan also revealed how a child was on the street when the murder gang opened fire, adding the child “would have been visible” to the killers.
The senior officer in the PSNI’s Major Investigation Team described the murder as a “targeted attack”, adding that it “could have resulted in a greater loss of life” due to the fact members of Hall’s family were in the room when he was shot and were “narrowly missed”. Supt Corrigan said that Hall was “known to police”, but added that “no one deserves to be killed”.
Police say the two men involved used two handguns and that they believe “at least” seven shots were fired.
Police investigating the “brutal” and “callous” murder are calling for witnesses to come forward, including anyone with phone camera footage from the area around 4.30pm on Saturday.
Supt Corrigan slated the killers for “not thinking about the impact on the wider community” of opening fire in a residential area.
He said detectives “need to hear from anyone who saw anything before or after the shooting”.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland are asking anyone with any information to call on the non-emergency number 101 quoting reference number 1466 18/12/21 or they can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.
