HE died as he lived: violently.

Gangland enforcer Kevin Carroll had spent much of his short life hurting others - or threatening to hurt others - before he was finally gunned down in a Asda car park in Robroyston in 2010.

The Gerbil or "Gerbo" - the 29-year-old reportedly got the handle from a character also called Kevin on ITV children's show Roland Rat - also lived in constant readiness for retribution.

His career, like his namesake puppet, was short and ugly.

Carroll, from Glasgow's Milton scheme, first made national headlines in 2006 when he was hit in the stomach in a drive-by shooting. It was not the first time he had been shot.

But it was an event that came to sum up the drugs feud that may have cost him his life four years later.

Carroll and associate Ross Sherlock were hit at 10pm one evening as they stood talking to others at the roadside in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, next to their BMW X5, a favourite set of wheels for criminals at the time.

Nobody has been charged with that crime, which left Carroll fighting for his life in Glasgow Royal Infirmary under the guard of armed police.

But it was widely seen as a key episode in a violent tit-for-tat feud between two north Glasgow drugs gangs, the Lyons and the Daniels.

Carroll was the partner of Kelly Green, daughter of Glasgow gangster and scrapyard owner Jamie Daniel. His attackers in 2006 were said to be associated with the wider Lyons gang.

So too was William Paterson, the man convicted of Carroll's murder.

Carroll had crossed swords with the Lyons, but not only them. In the months before his killing, the father-of-two had been in the news again.

Police suspected he was the leader of an "Alien Abduction" gang, one that kidnapped drugs business rivals and left them so traumatised they could not say what happened to them.

Carroll's gang stole drugs and cash from dealers who could hardly run to the authorities. One newspaper story suggested his gang took four kilos of cocaine from a rival gangster, telling him "You're taxed, you bam". Another report suggested that in the year before his death he had raised £1.5 million in cash, jewellery and drugs in "tax".

The trial of Paterson heard several other people wanted Carroll dead. Paterson lodged a defence that one or more of six others - had carried out the murder.

One of those named was Ross Monaghan, who was previously acquitted of the crime. Another was witness Steven Glen, a former drug dealer who met Carroll at Asda before the shooting.

At the High Court in Glasgow. Mr Glen underlined just how violent Carroll was. "He came over to me, he was talking to me, I can't remember all the stuff he was asking me about, basically 'You're working for me now, anybody that doesn't fall in line is going to get banged'." Banged meant getting shot, Mr Glen clarified, before describing the "bangs and cracks" as Carroll was shot in his black Audi A3. Mr Glen had agreed to meet in the car park because he thought such a public place would be safe.

Carroll had two children - they were six and one - when he died. Ms Green, told the High Court that the gangster was "a loving partner" and "fantastic father".

Carroll's funeral - his body brought to his final resting place in a horse-drawn hearse - was lavish, even featuring a floral tribute showing a can of Red Bull, the trademark energy drink he was constantly sipping.

For two years his grave was unmarked. His family, it was claimed, feared a headstone would be vandalised, as was that of the son of Lyons clan member Eddie Lyons, Garry, who died of cancer aged just eight.

Eventually the Gerbil got his stone, with its vanity number plate etched upon it: G3RBO.