Leading loyalist Gregg shot dead in North
The loyalist John Gregg and a second man have been shot dead in an ambush in Belfast.
The leading member of the Ulster Defence Association was gunned down in a taxi as he returned home from a football match.
Three other men who were with him were wounded in the attack, which took place at 10.15pm last night at the junction of Nelson Street and Great George's Street.
All three were taken to hospital, where one of them died this morning. The other men's injuries were understood not be life-threatening.
The shooting is linked to the bitter fall out between the main stream UDA and its former members from the Shankill Road’s C company, led by Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair.
Gregg, the UDA’s south-east Antrim brigadier, had been targeted twice last month by supporters of Adair when two pipe bombs were left at his home in Rathcoole in the outskirts of north Belfast.
His death brings to three the number of people murdered in this latest feud, which began late last year when Adair and his close associate John White were expelled from the organisation.
Jonathan Stewart was shot dead at a party on Boxing Day in the Shankill Road area. Supporters of Adair are believed to have shot and killed Roy Green on January 2 in revenge for Stewart’s murder.
Gregg, who had a wife and son and two stepdaughters, had been a hero figure among many loyalists after he was jailed for 18 years for shooting Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in 1984.
In an interview inside the Maze prison he was asked if he had any regrets over the incident. He said: “Only that I didn’t finish the job.”
There are fears that the murder of one of the UDA’s five brigadiers will lead to a major backlash. A UDA source said he was unsure what the repercussion would be.
“Everybody is in a state of shock at the moment,” he added.
