A man has been treated for gunshot wounds to his legs after a targeted attack.
Police are hunting for the gunman who shot at the 21-year-old in a park area in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, last night.
Both the victim's legs were injured in the shooting at around 6.45pm.
Detectives have been searching the park between Agnew Avenue and Deedes Street.
Detective Inspector John Lamb said: "I know this incident will be concerning for many local residents however I want to reassure them that this type of incident is rare and our enquiries so far lead us to believe this was a targeted attack.
"There will still be police activity in the area today, with specialist search officers carrying out a detailed search. Officers are also carrying out extensive enquiries and studying CCTV footage in an effort to gather further information. If anyone has any information or indeed concerns, please speak to the officers on the ground.
"We will be using significant resources in this investigation and I would like to appeal to people in the area to contact police with any information. Any small piece of detail could prove significant and help us trace those responsible for the crime."
The suspect is described as in his early 20s with short, dark hair and he wore dark clothing. He fled the scene in a dark-coloured saloon car.
The injured man was taken to Monklands Hospital where staff describe his condition as stable.
Police Scotland area commander, Chief Inspector Rosie Wright, said: "I understand the concerns people will have when they hear about this incident and I have arranged for additional officers to patrol the area.
"I know people will be shocked but I can assure you we are doing everything we can to locate the suspect and if you have any information, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us."
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article