Police have launched a murder enquiry after a man who was shot earlier this week died in hospital on Saturday August 28.
John McGregor, 44, was found seriously injured on Westray Street, Milton, around 7.55pm on Thursday, 26 August.
The father-of-five was taken to hospital in a critical condition and he died on Saturday night, changing the investigation from attempted murder to murder.
Officers say the incident is being treated as a targeted attack.
The investigation team are also looking into the possibility of a burnt out vehicle being linked to the incident.
It was reported to police that a white Vauxhall Corsa van was on fire on Etive Crescent, Cumbernauld, around 9.50pm on Thursday, 26 August.
Detective Superintendent Raymond Brown, of Police Scotland’s Major Investigations Team and Senior Investigating Officer, said:
“I want to appeal directly to the community and wider public who might have information that could help.
“There were people in the street at the time of the attack, including young children, and I would ask people to think about this if they have so far been reluctant to come forward. We need your help to solve this.
A shooting victim was gunned down in the street shortly after a car was rammed by a notorious gangland figure.
John McGregor was battling for his life after infighting within one of Scotland’s most dangerous crime clans sparked mayhem on the streets.
The 44-year-old was blasted at close range as part of a feud between rival factions of the Daniel family.
A witness yesterday revealed the moment the shooter’s weapon – believed to be a shotgun – jammed before firing at the second attempt in front of terrified children.
Sources told Scottish newspapers Thursday night’s sickening violence was triggered by a former close associate of dead gangster Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll.
He is said to have deliberately driven a Transit van into a Mercedes car in Westray Street, in Glasgow’s Milton, shortly before McGregor was shot, insiders claimed.
The 42-year-old thug was part of Carroll’s notorious Alien Abduction Gang, who terrorised rival drug dealers with kidnappings, shootings and violent robberies.
His intended target was a 27-year-old man who was in the car with a woman and managed to escape. He is facing a charge at the High Court in Glasgow and can’t be named for legal reasons.
A man was seen running back inside the grey van which reversed and drove off at speed.
Less than an hour later, McGregor was shot in the same street by a gunman who was caught on camera jogging back to a white getaway vehicle.
Locals performed CPR and paramedics also worked on the victim before he was rushed to hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.
An eye-witness said: “The victim got shot at point-blank range.
“When the guy first went to shoot him, it’s as if the gun jammed and he had to try again.
“It was aimed right to the chest.
The victim just collapsed and the man with the gun ran off and got into a white car.
There were two ambulances and about 10 paramedics.
“They were all surrounding him and worked on him on the street for about 45 minutes. It’s really scary, everyone was frightened.”
Nearly a dozen officers, at least eight police vans and a handful of patrol cars were at the scene yesterday, with uniformed officers guarding the cordon, as detectives carried out door-to-door inquiries.
Officers were heard asking locals for any CCTV footage they may have which could help them track down those responsible. The van was found abandoned further down Westray Street, at the junction with Berneray Street.
An insider said: “The ramming is linked to the shooting.
“They must have been desperate to get him because it was done in daylight with so many people around who had cameras to record what was happening. There’s been a big fall-out between those who were part of it.
They’ve been accusing each other of different things.
“Everyone knows who was driving the van and who was inside it.
He’s no stranger to violence having kidnapped and robbed people with Gerbil.”
Carroll was a key figure in the Daniel crime clan before he was shot in an Asda carpark in Glasgow’s Royston in 2010.
The gang
The Alien Abduction Gang got its nickname because all their victims told police that they couldn’t remember what had happened to them.
Carroll was shot dead by William Paterson – a senior figure within the Lyons crime clan, who have been waging a turf war with the Daniels for more than 20 years.
Murder scene
“The area of Westray Street is very residential and we are certain that there will be people who may have witnessed something that can help with our investigation.
Chief Inspector Alan MacIntyre, area commander for Glasgow North, added: “We believe this incident to be a targeted attack and I would like to reassure members of the community that there is no threat to the wider public.
Police are probing the discovery of a burnt out car discovered in Cumbernauld on Thursday night.
Officers scrambled to Etvie Drive in the Condorrat area of the North Lanarkshire town after the alarm was raised just before 10pm on Thursday night.
A Vauxhall Corsa was found to be on fire.
An eyewitness told the Daily Record how they saw forensic officers crawling over a white motor, with what appeared to be a shotgun being taken away from the scene.
They said: “It had been there for hours before it was covered and lifted by police.
“The windows were all smashed and it looked like someone had tried to set fire to it too.
“Forensics were all over it.
“They left the scene with what looked like a shotgun that they covered in a piece of cloth, but you could see it sticking out.”
Photographs show a large part of the residential area sealed off.
Several cops, including forensics officers, can be seen working on the street next to the car, which sits on the back of a recovery lorry.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances around a Vauxhall Corsa that was reported on fire on Etive Crescent, Cumbernauld, around 9.50pm on Thursday, 26 August.
Gerbil murder 2010
A witness to the Gerbil’s murder, Steven Glen told the High Court in Glasgow that he had been summoned to a meeting with Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll, in Glasgow, in January 2010.
He claimed he was was afraid of Carroll because of his reputation for being extremely violent and agreed to meet him in an the car park because he felt safe.
But seconds after their meeting the 29-year-old was shot repeatedly as he sat in the back of his car.
Glen said that Carroll had threatened him during their conversation.
He told the court: “I can’t remember all the stuff he was asking me about, it was basically ‘You’re working for me now, anybody that doesn’t fall in line is going to get banged’.”
Glen, 29, of Balornock, Glasgow, was giving evidence at the trial of William Paterson, 35, who is accused of murdering Carroll on January 13, 201 0.
He is also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
It is claimed that on January 23, 2010 he boarded a flight from Glasgow to Malaga “to avoid arrest, prosecution and conviction”.
Paterson faces a number of firearms charges as well as another accusation of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
He is also said to have been involved in the reset of a car.
Glen told the court he was a drug dealer in 2010 and worked for a man called Alan Johnstone.
The jury heard Carroll phoned him on January 12 and said he wanted to meet him.
The witness said he phoned Johnstone and was advised against a meeting but Carroll sent him a text the next day.
Prosecutor Iain McSporran asked what the text was about and was told Carroll said: “I’m going to come to your house and use my feet to get in this time.”
Glen alleged Carroll also said: “Bring that bitch Babesy with you.”
The jury heard Babesy is Johnstone.
The court was told Glen didn’t want to meet Carroll as he was afraid because he was “a violent person”.
Glen said he asked his friend Jason McConnell to watch from the cafe in Asda in case anything happened to him.
The jury was told Glen met Carroll and his two friends Stephen McLaggan and John Bonner outside Asda.
The court heard that when Glen went back to his car after the meeting and began to drive off he heard “bangs and cracks”.
He said: “I looked up, there was a motor parked in front of the motor Gerbil was in, it was two people shooting at it.”
Glen said the two people were firing into the car from either side when he drove off.
He said there was an outstanding warrant for him at the time and he changed his car after the incident.
He said he was “panicking” because he heard the police were looking for a person who had been speaking with Carroll.
The jury heard he phoned police offering to go
in the next week to speak to them, but was arrested before he had the chance.
Under cross examination by defence solicitor Des Finnieston, Glen denied knowing anything about the shooting.
He told the court his friend McConnell was the only person who knew he was meeting Carroll at Asda that day.
He told the court: “I’m not daft, I know how it looks, I know it didn’t have anything to do with me but know how it looks.”
William Paterson, 35, shot Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll, 29, as he sat in his car outside an Asda store in an execution-style killing.
He fled the country after the 2010 shooting in Robroyston, Glasgow, but was arrested last year in Madrid, Spain.
Sentencing him at Glasgow’s High Court, Judge Lord Armstrong said: “The attack took place in the car park of a supermarket, where ordinary members of the public were put at risk.
“It appears to have been planned and carried out in the most calculating way. It was, in effect, an execution.”
Paterson will spend at least 22 years in jail before being considered for release after being convicted of murder.
The judge added that it was done in a car park where “ordinary members of the public were going about their everyday business” and “put at risk of gunfire”.
Paterson’s DNA was discovered on the handle of a Tesco carrier bag that had a gun used to kill Carroll inside. It was found by council workmen in Lanarkshire. A phone expert showed Paterson’s mobile was traced to the car park seconds before the shooting at 1.23pm.
A call made to the phone at the crucial time placed Paterson at the scene and was a “breakthrough” in the police investigation.
He is the first person convicted of murdering Carroll.
The trial of Ross Monaghan collapsed due to a lack of evidence in 2012.
Paterson left Scotland for Spain 10 days after the shooting, before suspicion fell on him, and an international arrest warrant was put out in August that year.
He was named one of the UK’s top 10 “most wanted” fugitives.
Paterson contacted lawyers in June 2014 and agreed to return to Scotland to face the charges.
Carroll, 29, was shot in his girlfriend’s Audi A3 after ordering a rival drug dealer to meet him in the Asda car park.
Police believe he was set up by his own associates and rivals who agreed to a ceasefire to kill him, using a Ruger .357 magnum revolver and Beretta 92F semi-automatic pistol.
The murder was carried out by two masked men who blocked Carroll’s car with a stolen VW Golf and stood either side, blasting away at him and driving off just 25 seconds later.
The father-of-two, who had survived at least three previous shootings, died instantly.
Within days, police had drawn up a list of 99 men they believed had a motive for ordering Carroll’s execution.
Paterson had named six other men, including Mr Monaghan, as suspects for the killing in a special defence of incrimination and alibI
This is a brief history of the battle of the clans and more updates will follow as the investigation develops.
