DETECTIVES WARN ‘DO NOT APPROACH’
SCOTLAND’S most wanted man grew up friends with the victim he’s suspected of shooting dead, it was revealed yesterday. Locals revealed the link after detectives said they were hunting Jordan Owen, 23, for the murder of Jamie Lee. Officers have warned the public not to approach Owen, who is “considered dangerous”. New dad Jamie, 22, was gunned down during a vicious street battle near a play park in Castlemilk, Glasgow, on July 8. He was blasted in the chest and died hours later in hospital. A police spokesman said: “Anyone who recognises Mr Owen is asked not to approach him but to contact police as a matter of urgency. “His current whereabouts are unknown.” Last week, two suspects aged 16 and 17 were arrested and held in police custody over an alleged serious assault related to the same disturbance. But on Tuesday night, Owen was named as the man who was being sought in connection with Jamie’s death. Yesterday, sources on the housing scheme said that the pair had been friends for years. One said: “Jamie and Jordan go way back. “They have run about with each other since they were both knee high. “The fact is they were pals all of their lives and then this happens. “Both families know each other, too. That’s what people can’t work out.
“There was a rift lately but it had supposedly all been patched up. It is anyone’s guess what is behind this.”
Jamie became a dad to baby Jae just three weeks before his death.
His own father, Joe Lee, 62, was shot in the chest during the mass brawl but later released from hospital. He had tried to intervene in the incident, which also involved machetes.
Another source in Castlemilk said: “These boys became involved in a dispute between each end of the street in Ballantay Road.
“They were pals and ran about for years with the same group.
“It is a huge shock to all concerned that this has come to involve guns. There is just no logic to it.
“We’re not talking criminal underworld here.
“No one has seen Owen since this happened. Castlemilk is a big place, but at the moment the place is jumping with police, both uniform and plain clothes.
“So he is either hiding somewhere or he has bolted.”
Locals said claims that a feud has been going on since the death of Darren Gavan, 25, in Castlemilk in 2012 are untrue.
Anthony McGinley, 28, was jailed for nine years for culpable homicide for stabbing young dad Darren in the street.
One local said: “That was not connected with recent events.
“A member of Jamie’s family happened to be there at the time of the stabbing and someone has added two and two and got
A rift had supposedly been patched up. Then this..
LOCAL
seven. So-called feuds don’t last five years in Castlemilk.”
Police say there is also no link with an incident in June when a 23-year-old man was run down byn a Mercedes in Castlemilk, chased and then stabbed.
Owen is thought to be “known to police” for acts of violence.
The Daily Record revealed soon after the killing that eight children were at the play park when trouble flared on the evening of July 8.
The children fled in terror but some saw the events unfold.
Owen has an older brother, Martin, 25, and three younger brothers. He has recently lived at various addresses in the Castlemilk area.
His parents Martin snr, 45, and Diane, 44, live in Castlemilk.