Men shot in large scale disturbance at play park Published duration 10 July 2017

image copyright Google image caption Six men were found with injuries near a children's play area in Ballantay Terrace

A 23-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital after being shot in a large scale disturbance in the Castlemilk area of Glasgow.

Six men were taken to hospital following the incident near a children's play area in Ballantay Terrace at about 20:00 on Saturday.

Police said up to 15 individuals were involved in the incident, which they described as attempted murder.

A 25-year-old man is also in a stable condition in hospital.

Officers said that on arrival at the scene they found six men with various injuries.

'Localised feud'

Det Ch Insp Martin Fergus said children and other members of the public were in the area at the time of the attack.

He told BBC Scotland: "The call that we received was that there was a large scale disturbance, upwards of 12 to 15 individuals of various age groups engaged in a large scale disturbance using weapons.

"It's [too] early to say exactly what the motive behind this was, we are working on the hypothesis that this may be a localised feud between families, we don't know at this stage.

image caption DCI Martin Fergus said children and other members of the public were in the area when the disturbance broke out

"What I can confirm is that two individuals received injuries consistent with gunshot wounds, one of which is critical and fighting for his life as I speak.

"The other male also received critical injuries, however, they are not thought to be life threatening at this time.

"Other males that were also involved in the disturbance have received an array of injuries all believed to be serious."

'Targeted attack'

Since the six men were admitted to hospital in the city, four have been discharged.

Supt John McBride said officers would be patrolling the area to reassure the local community.

He said: "It happened in a sunny Saturday evening when children were undoubtedly out playing in the area and if you're a parent there and you've got a young kid, you probably want that feeling of safety."

He added: "It is important for people to know that this was not a random attack, it was a targeted attack involving two separate factions."

"It was such a large incident. We have got six people seriously injured, one of whom is still in a critical condition in hospital, one in a stable condition, and four with serious injuries."

The area where the attack took place is largely overlooked by housing and officers believe many people will have witnessed the incident as a result.

They have urged anyone with information to come forward.