Murderers 'bringing pain to city'

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The people who murdered a man in his home in Londonderry are bringing pain to the city, a priest has said.

Father Joseph Gormley was speaking after the funeral of Jim McConnell, 38, who was shot dead at Woodland Avenue in Prehen on Wednesday.

Police said they were investigating the possibility that the murder may have been drugs-related and may have been carried out by dissident republicans.

Father Gormley said nothing could justify the killing.

He said the killers had "nothing to offer."

"They are bringing more pain to this city, they are really doing it for their own narrow, selfish and power agenda," he told the BBC.

Earlier, Father Gormley addressed mourners at St Joseph's church in Galliagh.

He said: "If we in any way think Jim McConnell was responsible for his own death then we are, in fact, beginning to condone the actions of those who brutally murdered him.

"Such rationalisation is incompatible with the way in which Jesus thought and acted."

The attack, which police described as "cold, clinical and brutal", was condemned by politicians in the city.

Two other men who were in the house at the time of the shooting were not injured.

Mr McConnell was buried in the city cemetery.