Gardaí are investigating the discovery of a man's body in the boot of a car near Finglas, Co Dublin.
The cause of death is as yet undetermined but gardai are treating the incident as homicide. The man, who is in his 20s and has been identified, had injuries and gardaí believe he was stabbed or shot.
The man was found in the BMW car when gardai were called to the scene of a crash in St Joseph's Park, Finglas, at 10pm last night. The car had crashed into a wall in the halting site just off Dunsink Lane.
When gardai opened the boot of the vehicle they found the dead man.
The area was immediately sealed off. The remains and the car were left at the scene overnight and State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy has carried out a preliminary examination at the scene today. The body was removed by ambulance at lunchtime for a full post mortem.
Garda sources said they will not be in a position to open a murder investigation until the cause of death is confirmed. However, the same sources said the investigation is expected to be upgraded from a suspicious death investigation to a murder inquiry later today.
There was nobody at the scene of the collision when gardai arrived at St Joseph's Park last night. It is unclear at this stage who was driving the vehicle when it crashed. No arrests have been made.
Two uniformed gardai were posted at the entrance to the estate today and they stopped all vehicles entering and leaving and spoke to the occupants. In some cases, vehicles seeking to gain access were turned away.
Garda Technical Bureau detectives in white paper suits could be seen in the background examining the area near where the car was found.
Uniformed gardai carrying clipboards were also working on the scene.
Photographers climbed up a muddy embankment to take photos of the crashed car, which could not be seen from the road outside.
It was covered with plastic sheeting but the body of the dead man was visible when detectives lifted the cover.
Local people were reluctant to speak to reporters who had gathered outside the estate this morning. Those who did said they believed the dead man was not from the area.
"Some woman is waking up to hear that. That's some mother's son in that boot," said a woman leaving the estate in a car, with a child in the passenger seat.
Gardaí have asked anyone who was in the St Joseph's Park area of Finglas last night to contact them at Finglas Garda station on 01 666 7500 or the Garda confidential number 1800 666 111.
Gardai are holding a media briefing at Finglas station this evening.
