A native of Belfast's Twinbrook Estate, Kearney was a member of an Irish republican family who supported Sinn Féin.

"[1] A professional footballer and a father of four, with members of his family like his sister stating Kearney had no paramilitary involvement himself.

[3] In the months leading up to his death, he had been involved in a number of non-political confrontations with local republicans and had been threatened as a result.

[3] The shooting came at a time when the Provisional IRA was on ceasefire and unionists were demanding that Sinn Féin be excluded from plans for a new government for Northern Ireland.

[3] Maureen Kearney said she did not want Sinn Féin punished for the attack and blamed 'gangster' elements in the Provisional IRA.

[3] Gerry Kelly, a senior local Sinn Féin member, offered his condolences to the family and said the killing was "wrong and should not have happened".

[1] Afterwards, she began a campaign to have her son's killers brought to justice, saying "They left him to die in a filthy, urine-soaked lift with the blood gushing out of him.

The victims were all working-class Catholics so their deaths didn't threaten or destabilise the peace process as the murder of a security force member or loyalist would have done.

The Provos interpreted the official indifference as effectively giving them the green light to continue to 'police' nationalist areas.