PSNI hunt killers of father on doorstep
Police in Northern Ireland were today hunting the killer of a man shot dead on the doorstep of his home after his young son answered the door, police said.
The gunman called at the house in Dickson Park, Ballygowan, Co Down, yesterday and, when the boy answered the door, he asked for daddy.
The father, in his 30s, was called to the door by the five-year-old and was immediately shot, dying instantly at the scene.
Chief Inspector David Green condemned the killing, but expressed relief that after answering the front door to the killer the boy had joined his mother and two-year-old sister in the living room and did not witness his father being shot dead.
“Children this time of year should be looking forward to Santa, presents and Christmas, not to have such an appalling murder on their minds,” Mr Green said.
“I think it is a terrible thing to happen to any child.”
He added that so far there was nothing to suggest that the murder was either sectarian or connected to the loyalist feud.
