Man f ights for life after being shot by masked gang
A MAN was fighting for his life last night after two masked attackers burst into a flat and shot him.
Police are treating the attack on the 42-year-old as attempted murder.
The gunmen carried out the gangland hit at a tenement in Glasgow’s East End on Saturday.
The men were said to have jumped out of a car shouting ‘Where is he? Where is he?’ before forcing their way into the property and gunning down their victim.
Neighbours in the city’s Shettleston reported hearing multiple loud bangs they thought were fireworks shortly after 8pm.
The shooting is the third attempted murder to happen in the area in less than a month and Detective Inspector Alasdair Barlow said: ‘We believe this was not a random attack and that the victim was the intended target.
‘Nevertheless a team of detectives and specialist officers are in the area carrying out enquiries to establish the full circumstances of this incident.’
He added: ‘It is vital that we catch those responsible for this despicable act of violence.
‘I appeal to members of the public to come forward with any information, however slight it might appear, in order that we can identify the men involved and hold them accountable for their actions.’
Neighbour Edward Nichol, 52, said one of his friends had been confronted by the masked men outside a park near the flat.
He said: ‘They bounced out of the motor shouting “where is he, where is he?”. It’s horrible. I hope he will pull through. It’s a shame.’
Mr Nichol said he believed the shooting may have been sparked by dealers fighting over territory and said there was a lack of visible policing in Shettleston despite drugs being ‘rife’.
He added: ‘The only time you get a police presence up here is when something happens. There’s not enough police. It’s terrible.’
Neighbours spoke of hearing a series of loud bangs around 8pm. Police believe the gunmen knew the victim, who was taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where his condition was said to be ‘critical’.
Police are keen to trace a darkcoloured car seen parked outside the tenement, in which the gunmen escaped just after 8.10pm.
A police cordon taped off Shettleston Library yesterday and two patrol cars and a police van were stationed nearby.
It is the third attempted murder to happen in the neighbourhood in less than a month – and the second shooting in the same time period.
Shettleston Labour councillor Frank McAveety said: ‘There has been a series of targeted shootings in the west coast of Scotland where people have either been attacked inside or outside their home address.
‘I hope the police are on top of this because it looks like known individuals who are taking each other out.
‘I’m very concerned that the wider public may get caught in the crossfire.’
On September 18, two masked attackers broke into a house only a mile away from the most recent shooting. They shot a man in the back of the head and escaped in a dark car.
Police are treating it as attempted murder, and said they believed the victim was the intended target.
Three days earlier a 25-year-old man was stabbed in the area. This attack is also being treated as an attempted murder.
‘Despicable act of violence’