Gary Hutch
The body is removed from the Miraflores complex
The family of gangland crime figure Gary Hutch are still frantically trying to contact him tonight after reports that he was the Irish man shot dead in the Costa Del Sol early today.
Hutch, 34, has not been answering his phone and it is understood that he had been staying in the complex where the killing took place.
As time goes by without contact, his family are growing increasingly worried about his welfare.
Family members have been calling to his parents' home in Dublin's north inner city this evening as they await news.
Friends and relations have been comforting Hutch's distraught mother and father who have been fearing the worst.
Unconfirmed reports coming out of Spain since early this afternoon were naming Hutch as the victim of the shooting.
His life had been under threat in recent months from former associates in the Kinahan crime cartel.
The Sunday World understands from sources close to the family that no one has been able to raise Hutch on his phone all day and they are frantically concerned for his life.
"They are devastated and have been trying to get in contact all day. They are now extremely worried and people have been calling to the house to console them," a family friend told sundayworld.com
Police in Spain are investigating the murder, a shooting that has all the hallmarks of a contract killing.
A lifeguard at the complex, who discovered the dead body, said: "The gunman was masked and wore gloves. He started shooting in the garage before chasing his victim out into the swimming pool."
It is reported that three bullets hit the victim.
Hutch had been a key lieutenant in the Kinihan drug gang but he fled Spain after a rival drug gang were said to be after him and he was reported to have been the intended target of the shooting that injured boxer Jamie Moore in August of last year.
He was also spotted in Dublin's north inner city in February of this year, and it was speculated that a meeting with his uncle, Gerard 'The Monk' Hutch took place.
Prior to fleeing in the aftermath of the Moore shooting, Hutch had been in the Costa Del Sol for eight years following his release from prison.
Hutch was freed in June 2006 after serving a term for armed robbery. He was later arrested and placed in custody for allegedly shooting former friend Paul ‘Dicey’ Reilly, but the allegations were withdrawn by witnesses in court.
In 2010 he was arrested as part of the Operation Shovel offensive against the Kinahan drugs gang.