A STOLEN car which struck and killed a mourner outside a cemetery was seen being driven at speed along a busy road 30 minutes before the fatal crash.
The family of the west Belfast man knocked down and killed as he left a funeral are still in shock, a parish priest has said.
Seamus Conlon (70) was one of three men struck on Whiterock Road shortly after noon on Saturday.
The grandfather and father-of-two had been attending the funeral of his friend Raymond 'Micky' Walker and was standing outside the city cemetery.
Two other men, understood to be aged in their thirties and sixties, have been discharged from hospital.
A 32-year-old man, named locally as Michael Loughran, has been charged with offences including causing death by dangerous driving and driving while unfit due to drink or drugs.
He is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday.
Witnesses told The Irish News they saw the car being driven erratically around Falls Road less than half an hour earlier.
Police said they were seeking the stolen vehicle but were not seen to be chasing it.
One man said the area had been busy with people making their way into the city centre for the Pride parade.
“I was walking down towards the lower Falls when I heard wheels spinning. At one stage the driver was weaving onto the wrong side of the road and had his head out the window,” he said.
“There were a lot of people standing at bus stops and groups of teenagers walking into town. It was in my mind at the time that he could have mounted the pavement.
“As soon as I heard what had happened, I thought it had to be him. I recognised the car straight away when I saw the photographs.”
Police said the car had been reported stolen about 90 minutes before the crash and they had been “actively seeking it” but not pursuing it.
Mr Loughran is reported to have been pulled from the car by angry onlookers and mourners before police arrived.
Fr Paddy McCafferty from Corpus Christi parish visited the Conlon family on Sunday.
"They are reminiscing about Seamus and telling stories about him," he said.
"He was very well-known, a colourful, larger-than-life character who was very much liked.
"That's what the family are focusing on at the moment."
Fr McCafferty had conducted the funeral Mass for Mr Walker and had not long left the cemetery when he was alerted to the incident.
He described the scene as "pandemonium".
"The emergency services were already there and it was bedlam," he said.
"The family had organised refreshments and mourners were making their way up the road when it happened. Micky Walker was very popular and well-known and it was a big funeral.
"There are always children playing around there, mothers pushing prams. It could have been even more catastrophic. It doesn't bear thinking about.
"Seamus and Micky were good friends. It was a dark day made 10 times darker by what happened."
Sinn Féin councillor Michael Donnelly was at the scene shortly after the crash.
"There was a lot of people angry and upset. Seamus was known by everyone. The community in Ballymurphy is just numb," he said.
"It's a double tragedy. People were paying their respects to another well-known member of the community who had died and as they were leaving that funeral to go home they were caught up in this carnage."
A witness, who did not want to be named, said the crash sounded like a bomb exploding.
"I was walking out of the graveyard when I heard a massive bang and saw all the smoke in the air and then saw a car had crashed into the van," he added.
Mr Conlon's brother Herky Conlon told the BBC he had been called to the scene by his own son and arrived to see his brother being put in an ambulance.
He described his brother as a "horsey" man who was known for taking children for a ride up and down the road in his horse and trap.
He said the crash happened on the anniversary of their mother's death.
Alliance west Belfast representative Donnamarie Higgins said the community was in shock.
"This was a day when west Belfast was showing its best side off to the world due to Féile and instead we are now mourning following this tragedy. It is particularly devastating, given it was immediately after a funeral," she said.
