Police wait to interview gun victim over motive

DETECTIVES are today hoping to talk to a 39-year-old father shot on his Edinburgh doorstep as children slept upstairs.

The victim, named locally as Douglas Downing, was today recovering after being wounded in the waist area as he walked his dog by a shotgun blast fired by a masked man.

Detectives say they are hoping to talk to the "well-respected family man" again today as they try to identify a motive behind the shooting in Duddingston's Paisley Drive yesterday morning.

His two young sons were led away by relatives yesterday afternoon clutching small suitcases while Mr Downing's partner, Carol McEvoy, is understood to have spent the day at his bedside at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

The sons are both pupils at Parsons Green Primary School, just 50 metres from the spot where their father was shot.

Asked by neighbours how he was coping with what happened to his father, the older child is said to have replied "OK".

A family friend described Mr Downing, a plumber, as a "lovely, quiet guy" and said the community was struggling to understand why anyone would shoot him.

The attacker, who was wearing a ski mask or balaclava, fired at least two shots, with one of them hitting Mr Downing and the other reportedly damaging the house.

The victim was able to raise the alarm and an ambulance arrived at the scene minutes later.

Officers described the attack as "lethal and life-threatening" and said that while they could never rule out a case of mistaken identity, they were satisfied Mr Downing was deliberately targeted.

Officers said they had not identified any drug or criminal-related motive for the shooting.

Police said Mr Downing underwent an operation yesterday and was able to speak to detectives for a few minutes and give them a brief description of the assailant.

Detectives said a silver car parked in nearby Meadowfield Drive was seen leaving the area at speed at the time and may have been the escape vehicle.

A team of five officers spent yesterday combing through Mr Downing's front and back garden, and his bins, looking for evidence the gunman may have left.

Detective Superintendent Allan Jones said that Mr Downing was shot as he returned home from walking his dog at around 12:40am yesterday. He said: "On entering his home address, he became aware there had been somebody lingering in the background.

"He turned round and that individual discharged what we think may have been a shotgun at him.

"At least two shots were discharged, one of these striking the victim. It was a very serious and cowardly attack which could easily have been lethal."

A family friend of Mr Downing said: "Doug is a lovely, quiet guy. Carol's lovely as well and they have two sons that go to the same school as my children. It must be terrible for the family for that to happen on their doorstep. No-one can think of any reason why that would happen to Doug."

Det Supt Jones said that the shooting was an "incredibly unusual" incident and that there will be additional high-visibility police patrols on the street to reassure residents in Duddingston.

Police also want to speak to two teenagers – unconnected to the incident – who were playing football nearby at that time.