Kevin Carroll trial: ‘Man had Clint Eastwood gun’

Kevin Gerbil Carroll was gunned down in an Asda car park. Picture: PA

Emma Busby, 35, told the High Court in Glasgow she backed up with her trolley outside the Asda supermarket when she heard the sound of a gun going off.

She was giving evidence yesterday at the trial of William Paterson, 35, who denies murdering Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll on 13 January, 2010, in the car park of Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow.

Mrs Busby told the court she saw two men get out of a dark car that screeched in front of her before she made her way back into the shop.

Another woman, Anne Mc-Intosh, 46, described crouching beside her car when she heard gunshots and moving herself to the front of the car.

Shop manager Steven Mc-Kenna, 49, said he watched from an office window “shocked and motionless” as the incident unfolded.

It is claimed – while masked and acting with others – that Paterson repeatedly discharged loaded handguns at 29-year-old Carroll, shooting him in the head and body.

Paterson is also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The indictment claims that on 23 January, 2010, he boarded a flight from Glasgow to Malaga to avoid arrest.

Mrs Busby said she had been shopping with her mother and went out to put the items in her car.

She was near the entrance to the supermarket when she saw a car and heard it screeching and stopping in front of another car, and initially thought it had crashed.

Advocate depute Iain McSporran, prosecuting, asked: “Was it the sound or sight of it you were first aware of?”

The witness replied: “Both, I think.”

Asked if she was aware of the car before it stopped, she said: “Yes, because I was wanting to cross. I was going to cross the road so I saw it.”

She said: “I saw two guys jumping out the car and I saw a gun so that’s when I started back up with my trolley.

“I heard the shots that’s when I turned and went back in to the shop.”

Mrs Busby added: “I remember someone jumping out of the passenger side. I just remember seeing a gun.”

Mr McSporran asked: “What did you see of the gun?”

Mrs Busby said: “Just silver – I remember thinking it was like a Clint Eastwood western-style gun with a rolling barrel.” She said the person held it in their left hand and she could see it enough to see the “big silver barrel”.

The witness told the jury: “I thought he was going to turn it on everyone in Asda. I didn’t equate it to the other car.”

She described walking back pulling her trolley, but turned it round and went back inside after hearing shots being fired.

Mrs Busby said she thought that there were eight to ten shots fired.

She told the jury she was “hysterical” when she went back inside, adding: “I went into the chemist and sat down and was sick.

“I had a drink of water and just remember lots of screaming and shouting.”

Paterson denies the charges and has incriminated six other people.

Paterson has also lodged a special defence of alibi, claiming that he was at a house in Cumbernauld on the day of the shooting.

The trial before judge Lord Armstrong continues.