Gardaí are investigating if the fatal stabbing of a father-of-two in Co Dublin is linked to a number of other violent incidents, including a claw hammer attack, in recent weeks.

Two south Dublin men in their early 30s were still being questioned at Shankill garda station last night over the killing of Derek Reddin (31) in Loughlinstown shortly after midnight yesterday.

Mr Reddin, of Watson Drive, Killiney, suffered a fatal stab wound to his chest.

Gardaí are probing whether Mr Reddin or an associate may have brought the weapon to the scene where there was a fight between two pairs of men.

The fight, which was caught on CCTV, happened at the junction of Loughlinstown Drive and Cherry Court at around 12.05am.

Sources say the victim had been involved in a bitter dispute in the south Co Dublin area which allegedly started over a “slagging incident” at a house party a number of weeks ago.

Mr Reddin is understood to have been a victim of a previous pub assault as part of this escalating disagreement between local young men which led to Monday night’s fight, according to sources.

The victim, while known to gardaí, was not considered a serious criminal and his most serious conviction was a two-year suspended sentence handed down at Dublin Circuit Court in November 2015, for a violent disorder incident.

The two men who were being questioned about his homicide last night are not known to gardaí for involvement in crime and they are understood to have been socialising in a local pub before the fight broke out.

During the row Mr Reddin was stabbed in the chest and quickly collapsed from blood loss. Members of the Garda Armed Response Unit raced to the scene and tried to save him. However, his injuries were too severe and he was pronounced dead at the scene when ambulance crews arrived.

As the homicide investigation was launched, two men in their 30s were arrested in the local area.

Members of the Garda Technical Bureau arrived at 9.30am yesterday and began taking photographs and gathering forensic evidence.

One local man said there was a confrontation and it is believed four people were involved, including Mr Reddin.

There were local reports that one group of two men approached another group of two men, and a violent row erupted in which Mr Reddin was stabbed.

As gardaí carried out their work a woman who said she was a good friend of Mr Reddin arrived at the scene.

She spoke briefly with officers. Before she left she told the Irish Independent she was a close friend of Mr Reddin.

“He was a good dad. He loved his kids, and he would do anything for anybody,” she said.

“I haven’t got a clue what this is over. It’s really unusual. He had two young boys. I just had to come up and see it for myself.”

A man who also visited the scene said he had known Mr Reddin since childhood.

“We used to go the rugby games when we were six and seven years old. Then I didn’t see Derek for a few years and we got to know each other again in recent years,” he said.

“He’d never walk by you without saying hello. He was always bubbly. He’d buy and sell cars and things, or fit satellite dishes, anything to earn a few euro. He was a hard worker.

“I hear he did soup runs for the homeless in the city at the weekends. He was into everything.”

The homeless support group You’re Not Alone said that, following Mr Reddin’s death, it was cancelling its soup run on Friday night.

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