Pair guilty of shooting shopkeeper as he served customers in Govan murder bid

Two men have been convicted of shooting a shop worker as he served customers at a shop in Glasgow.

Gary Rooney, 34, and Darren Beaton, 37, targeted the man as he served a woman and her young daughter at Drumoyne Stores in the Govan area of the city.

The 55-year-old survived being shot with a pistol, having been struck in the hand.

Rooney and Beaton had both denied being involved in the October 25, 2024 crime.

Jurors were told that a photo of a gloved hand was found on a mobile phone belonging to one of them, as well as DNA being discovered on a bottle discarded near where a getaway car was found burnt out.

The pair were found guilty of attempted murder following the trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

Judge Jane Farquharson KC deferred sentence pending reports until next month at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The judge said: “You will understand that these are serious matters and a lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable.”

The victim told how he had been getting a scratchcard for a woman who came into his shop with her young daughter when the attackers struck around 4pm.

He said the two assailants were masked – one stood at the door, the other came towards him.

He then described: “He shot me, but it took a couple of seconds to realise what happened.

“When I looked at my hand, I saw it was injured. I saw the gun.”

Asked by prosecutor Ali Murray how he felt, the victim replied: “Terrified.”

CCTV had captured the gunman shooting the man, then appearing to tinker with the firearm before the duo fled the shop, which was near a school.

The victim dialled 999 before needing surgery at hospital. He had suffered an injury to his left hand.

The man said the incident has prevented him from working in the family shop.

The Ford Fiesta the attackers escaped in was later discovered torched in woods in Concho Road, Clydebank in West Dunbartonshire.

In his closing speech, advocate depute Mr Murray said there was a “plethora of circumstantial evidence” making it “blindingly obvious” the apparent gunman Rooney and accomplice Beaton were involved.

This included a phone seized from Rooney which had a photo of a firearm – a type said to have been used in the attack – clasped in the hand of someone wearing a black glove.

The pair were also described as earlier wearing clothes similar to the masked men in the shop.

Mr Murray further stated forensic evidence was damning, including DNA on a Buckfast bottle at the woods in Clydebank.

The prosecutor claimed they would have to be the “unluckiest men in legal history” to have been arrested if it was not them.

Mr Murray also said: “This happened across the road from a primary school – how dangerous and reckless were these men?

“They could not have failed to notice the mum and daughter in the shop. We simply cannot accept this lawlessness in our communities.

“We should not have to deal with such wanton behaviour.”

Brian McConnachie KC, defending Rooney, and Thomas Ross KC, defending Beaton, will make their mitigation at the sentencing.

It was revealed that Rooney and Beaton, both unemployed, have previous convictions for serious assault. Dad-of-four Beaton has a previous High Court conviction for assault to danger of life.

Beaton, who was initially on bail, was remanded mid-trial because he was late on two occasions.