Anyone tempted to support dissident republicans in any way should stop and think about the barbaric and callous murder of father of four Michael McGibbon.
This was an act of unspeakable evil perpetrated by gangsters who set themselves up as judge and jury and attempt to rule their districts through violence and fear.
By all accounts Mr McGibbon, aged 33, was a hard working family man, devoted to his wife Joanne and their young children.
He had no criminal record and did not have criminal connections.
In that respect, his killing does not have the typical elements associated with paramilitary-style shootings.
At this stage we do not know why masked men came to his home on Thursday night demanding he step outside, which he refused to do and called the PSNI instead.
It is believed he was approached the following day as he collected his children from school and told to go to an alleyway later.
That is where his wife found him, bleeding heavily, his life ebbing away.
A trained nurse, she used all her skills to try to save her husband but his injuries were too severe.
Those who support dissident republicans in Ardoyne should just think about this young father's final minutes, lying in an alleyway.
They should think of his traumatised wife, desperately trying keep her husband alive, whose life has now been changed forever.
And they should think of his four young children, robbed of a father and plunged into unimaginable grief.
Those who decided this man should be shot and those who carried out this dreadful act should think about what they have done.
If they had any conscience, which is unlikely, they would hand themselves into police and confess their crimes.
They would also vow that Michael McGibbon's death is the last time republicans shoot a member of their own community in a cruel parody of `justice.'
Where is the justice for Mr McGibbon, for his widow and his children?
Whatever the reason for this man being targeted, it does not justify shooting him in an alleyway and leaving him to bleed to death.
It is important that the McGibbon family receive the full support of the local community in the days and weeks ahead.
That support also includes going to the police with any information about those who planned and carried out this wicked act.
Murderers should be brought before the courts and held to account for their deeds.
They should not be left free to roam the streets of north Belfast, ready to shoot anyone else who crosses their path.
