Jim Donegan: Two men arrested over west Belfast murder

Police investigating the murder of a man outside a west Belfast school have arrested two men, aged 49 and 51.

Jim Donegan, 43, was shot in his car as he waited for his 13-year-old son near St Mary's Grammar School on Tuesday.

The arrests on Wednesday evening came after police carried out searches in west Belfast.

On Wednesday afternoon, police released CCTV footage of the gunman before and after the shooting.

Det Ch Insp Peter Montgomery described the murder as a "barbaric assassination".

Jim Donegan was shot dead as he waited to pick his son up from school

CCTV footage shows the gunman walking to the scene and later running from it.

The victim was a husband, a brother, a father to two sons and a stepfather, said Det Ch Insp Montgomery of the Police Servivce of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

"Hundreds of children were pouring out of the three schools in the Glen Road area of west Belfast at the time - many of them witnessing the assassination of the father of two," he said.

"Jim's son was spared from this thankfully but only by a few seconds.

'Utter madness'

"Mums, dads, grandparents, young siblings and people in the community also saw the brutal slaying.

"The callous actions of the gunman will have catastrophic psychological effects on them all."

Det Ch Insp Montgomery said the gunman walked past the children and fired eight times.

That was "utter madness" as, in the circumstances, there could easily have been a ricochet resulting in multiple deaths.

The shooter was wearing a hi-vis yellow jacket with "Security" printed on the back and was carrying a dark bag.

Police believe the gun was in the bag. He walked from a lane, past parents and children.

After the murder, he ran back up Glen Road and along the lane on to Clonelly Avenue.

Police want to speak to anyone who saw the victim's red Porsche shortly before the shooting

The detective thanked people in the community who had helped them and appealed for more information or dashcam footage.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, the school's interim principal Fiona Crookes said pupils "had to walk past the scene" of the shooting.

St Mary's Grammar was closed on Wednesday.

Mrs Crookes told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme: "Our primary concern at that stage was that they wouldn't see what we had to see."

Mr Donegan's son soon became "our priority" as he walked down the lane to meet his father, she added.

Pupils will be offered counselling when the school reopens on Thursday.