Man dead after being shot nine times at social club in west Belfast

Early reports indicate one man has died in the shooting which eyewitnesses say appeared to be a well planned “professional hit.”

The victim is said to be a close friend of Jim “JD" Donegan, who was gunned down in December 2018.

He had been drinking with friends in the Suffolk Road social club when he was shot dead in front of horrified onlookers. Part of Suffolk Road is closed and a number of diversions are in place.

Two masked gunmen are believed to have entered the club, at least one opened fire with a handgun.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the victim, who is from west Belfast but had been living in Lisburn, was shot up to nine times and died almost instantly.

The PSNI said: “We are currently at the scene of a shooting incident in the Suffolk Road area of West Belfast.”

No further details have as yet been released.

There were two emergency crews at the scene shortly after the shooting but no one was brought out of the club into the ambulances.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph an eye witness who was in the premises said police moved them to a different part of the club to preserve the crime scene.

Relatives of the victim gathered in the car park as police cordoned off the scene.

The police helicopter was overhead.

The gunmen walked from the club and left the carpark on foot.

Jim Donegan, 43, was shot dead sitting behind the wheel of an £80,000 Porsche as he waited to pick up his 13-year-old son outside St Mary's Grammar School on the Glen Road in 2018.

Dissident republicans were said to be behind the killing of the west Belfast man who was a major player in the drugs trade.

His murder took place less than a mile from Sunday’s fatal shooting.