fatal shooting of Gavin McCarthy may not be directly related to a local feud, gardai now believe. However, they suspect McCarthy may have been killed after he allegedly struck a young woman with links to the rival faction in a local feud.
Ballistics officers have carried out tests on a handgun which they believe was used in the shooting in Sheriff Street in Dublin's north inner city. The weapon was recovered in a search of the area by gardai. Experts are now trying to establish if the gun has been used in other shootings and this may help them determine whether members of the feuding gangs were involved in the incident. But detectives are also aware that McCarthy (21) was involved in drug dealing and are looking at the possibility that he could have upset other dealers by attempting to extend his "territory". Forensic tests have also been carried out on several bicycles recovered from the streets around the murder scene after witnesses reported that the killer made his escape by bicycle and then reappeared at the far end of Sheriff Street where he was tackled by a brother of the victim. The gunman's face was covered by a balaclava, but witnesses claim he was aged between 17 and 19 years.
One officer said last night: "Our investigation remains wide open but we are making progress and it no longer seems to be directly linked to the north inner city feud, even if there could end up being a peripheral connection."

Police believe a riot between two rival gangs in Co Londonderry was organised over the internet. Officers were attacked by a mob of up to 100 youths who hurled bricks, bottles and other missiles as they tried to deal with the disturbance in the Academy Street area of Rosemount on Friday night. Violence broke out at about 10.15pm after a row between two individuals escalated when their friends intervened. Police said they are investigating claims that trouble was orchestrated through social networking websites. Four teenagers were arrested for public order offences as large crowds gathered in the Rosemount area. They were later released, pending further reports. A PSNI spokesman said at least one police vehicle had been damaged during the disturbance. There were no reports of any injuries. Meanwhile, in a separatedisturbance in Co Armagh police were pelted with stones and bottles as they tried to arrest two men in connection with an armed robbery. Trouble broke out in the Drumbeg area of Lurgan on Saturday night after officers tried to arrest the men aged 17 and 23-years-old. There were no reports of any injuries as a result of the trouble. At about 8pm on Saturday two men, wearing balaclavas and carrying handguns robbed premises at Taghnevean Walk in Lurgan. They forced staff to hand over a sum of cash and cigarettes before making off on foot. Two imitation handguns and a quantity of stolen property were recovered by police at Drumbeg. A police spokesman also appealed for four customers in the shop at the time of the robbery to come forward.They are also keen to speak to a motorist who stopped with police on the Tandragee Road at about 8.15pm. The two men aged 17 and 23 were last night charged with armed robbery and are due in court this morning.

The criminal activity being probed includes damage to dwellings and vehicles, assaults, houses burgled and the occupants attacked and threatened ongoing cross-border probe into the horrific killing of the young South Armagh man, Paul Quinn, 21, who was bludgeoned to death at a shed on the republic side of the border in Co Monaghan last October, has led to the exposure in recent days of a crime web involving a number of self-styled 'Untouchables'.And it is understood the gang's reputed ring-leader, who is in his mid-twenties, is based in north Louth, but also operates in the south Armagh area.This emerged earlier in the week in the wake of disclosures relating to the theft of vehicles and other machinery from sites in the border area.Detectives probing the movements of some former associates of the murder victim are now believed to have obtained the names of a number of individuals involved in a recent spate of criminal incidents in the south Armagh and north Louth areas.Some members of the gang are also understood to have been involved in an internecine 'war' over the theft of more than 10,000 litres of diesel fuel in an incident in which a tanker was driven to a yard and unloaded.According to one source in south Armagh yesterday: "We believe the net is now closing on this particular gang which has been involved in a spate of incidents in recent times.
"Detectives are now aware that the carry-on involving these so-called 'Untouchables' goes to the very heart of the atrocity of the murder of Paul Quinn."
It also emerged in recent days that some of the gang have had material posted on a Bebo website which also carried some photographs, including one of the murdered Cullyhanna man.It is understood the key figure in the gang has already been questioned by the gardai and the PSNI over some recent incidents in the Louth area, and also at Crossmaglen and Cullyhanna, but there was insufficient evidence for an arrest.The key suspect is also understood to have been linked by police to an armed robbery in the area, as well as the theft of a mechanical digger from a site in Co Louth.Last week, a Sinn Fein councillor was verbally attacked and given a death threat by a group of youths after emerging from a meeting convened by the Paul Quinn Support Group in Newry.Cllr Brendan Curran has confirmed he has asked the PSNI to investigate the incident in which it is believed some of the individuals who attacked him as he left Newry Town Hall, had links with diesel laundering. Meanwhile, the Garda and PSNI have said that inquiries into the Quinn murder are ongoing, and according to gardai, the investigation is now ''heavily centred'' on the collation of forensic evidence.

Detectives now believe some members of the gang involved in the murder of Paul Quinn had former links with the IRA, but had apparently split from the organisation some years ago

Ireland as a society entering a 10-year cocaine epidemic. Dr Luke predicted there would be 'dozens and dozens' of further deaths such as Katy's over the next decade.
'There is a spiralling interest in drug-taking among children and teenagers, which also perfectly fits the same curve of the distribution of leaflets and drug talks. I do worry that all you are doing is exposing them to a menu that they might dabble in,' he said
Philomena Lynott, who will mark the 21st anniversary this January of her son's death from a cocktail of alcohol and drugs, condemned the widespread use of drugs such as cocaine in Ireland.
Stephen Rowen, clinical director of the Dublin-based Rutland Centre, said: 'Cocaine is quite available, it's in most pubs and virtually every city, town and village in Ireland. We have no way of knowing before people use it how it will affect them - if they could have a stroke, heart attack, some severe medical reaction, or get addicted, which is a very expensive and horrific way to live.'
Katy, 24, died in hospital after collapsing and falling into a coma at a friend's house in Ashbourne, Co Meath, last weekend. Preliminary tests indicate she had cocaine in her bloodstream. The star of the Celebrities Go Wild series had been drinking champagne at her friend's home but, contrary to earlier reports, there was no party taking place.
A gramme of cocaine in Dublin costs around €40 (£29), making the Republic one of the cheapest places to buy the drug in the industrial world. Its widespread availability is due, in part, to geography: the Irish coastline provides an ideal 'dumping point' for drug cartels and gangsters smuggling cocaine by sea from South America via the West African coast to Europe.