School run horror as man shot while parents dropped off children
A FATHER was shot outside a primary school yesterday as children were being dropped off for classes. Ross Monaghan was attacked after he dropped off his child at the school by a man pushing a child’s buggy.
Families watched in horror as the 35year-old was shot in the back at close range at St George’s RC Primary School in Penilee, Glasgow, just after 9am.
Police said Monaghan, who was acquitted of the notorious gangland murder of Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll in an Asda car park, made his own way to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow following the shooting.
He was discharged last night after being treated for a shoulder injury.
Witnesses said that after the shooting the gunman put his weapon inside the empty buggy and ran off. No one else was injured.
Monaghan was acquitted in 2012 at the High Court in Glasgow of murdering gangster Carroll in January 2010.
Carroll, 29, was shot 13 times as he sat in the back of his Audi A3 outside Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow.
Police are treating the attack on Monaghan as attempted murder.
Detective Chief Inspector John Kennedy said: ‘This was a particularly distressing incident for the community, given it took place close to a primary school.
‘I believe that this was a targeted attack focused on one intended victim.
‘Whilst forensic and ballistic examinations continue at the scene, detectives are carrying out door-to-door inquiries and reviewing CCTV.
‘This a highly populated, residential area and I am appealing to anyone who may have seen the man with the buggy before or after the incident to come forward.’
Chief Inspector Simon Jeacocke said: ‘It is clearly unacceptable that this happened outside a school and we are using all the resources of Police Scotland to identify those responsible.
‘Understandably, parents, staff, pupils and people in the community are very alarmed.
‘We believe it was a targeted attack but, nonetheless, this took place near a school when the area was busy with parents dropping off their children.
‘Although it would appear that there was an intended victim, anyone could have been injured as a result, putting young children and innocent people at risk.’
The gunman was still on the run last night but police said there was no threat to anyone in the area.
Following the shooting, roads leading to the school were cordoned off as police stood guard.
Forensics officers searched the nearby pavement and it is thought the casing of at least one bullet was recovered.
Witnesses told how terrified parents and children began ‘screaming and crying’ when the shots were fired.
Mohammad Almfalani, 33, was taking his daughters, aged five and six, to the school when he saw the incident.
He said: ‘The shooter was running down the road chasing a man. He was carrying a big black gun. It looked like a sawn-off shotgun.
‘He shot him once by the school gates. People started screaming and crying. Everyone was very scared.
‘After he fired the shot, the man carrying the gun ran away. He grabbed a child’s buggy and hid the gun, then he ran away pushing the buggy.’
Mr Almfalani took his children home after the incident. He said: ‘It was meant to be their first day. We have only just moved here.
‘But after seeing that I wasn’t letting them go to school. It was too scary.’
Mary McLeod was walking home after dropping off her nine-year-old son Jude when she heard a bang.
She said: ‘I thought it was a firework. It all happened so quickly. I then saw police cars coming down the road.
‘There was a helicopter that landed on the school pitch.’
Many parents rushed to collect their children after
‘He was carrying a big black gun’ ‘He shot him once by the gates’
being informed about the shooting by text from the school. They gathered outside the police cordon as officers collected their children for them.
Maureen McKenna, director of education at Glasgow City Council, said: ‘I’m very angry that a targeted shooting like this took place outside a school.’
The suspect is described as male, wearing a blue padded jacket, blue jeans, a dark woollen bobble hat and a scarf pulled up around his face.
Monaghan was cleared of killing Carroll after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict him.
William Paterson, 35, was jailed for 22 years in 2015 over the Carroll murder after being found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow.