Fire shots at funeral

and sons Declan and Eamonn. SDLP councillor for west Belfast Tim Attwood said the incident could have ended in tragedy.

He said: “Gunmen have no place on the streets of Belfast. In a built-up area, with so many bystanders, this could easily end in tragedy.”

DUP MLA William Humphrey said the display was an “attempt to intimidate a community”.

He said: “There is no place for any such scenes in society, particularly shots fired in front of two young children — and how terrifying that would have been for those young children to see that, masked men firing automatic gunfire in front of them.

“There is no regard for the children either, that’s particularly disgusting. It’s very clear that there are people in our society who want to take us back to the dark old days and that’s why we need to have a return to devolution and a working Stormont and Executive as soon as possible, so that any vacuum cannot be filled by men of evil.”

Mr Humphrey added: “It’s absolutely appalling that in this day and age we should see this happening in our capital city in front of young people, and in particular it’s a very dark day and sinister day for the city of Belfast.”

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Reid said: “Police are aware of footage showing shots apparently being fired by masked men in west Belfast in recent days.

“An investigation is under way.”