A LONER who murdered a businessman and attempted to shoot dead his son at a rural equestrian centre was deeply in debt and owed thousands of pounds by his victim, it has been claimed.
Robert McCormick, 53, who gunned down Peter Thompson, 59, and injured his fleeing son John, 36, on Tuesday was said to be depressed over money worries and a financial dispute with Mr Thompson, owner of the Meadowhead Farm and riding school in Auldhouse, South Lanarkshire.
The gunman, who later turned the gun on himself in a car, was described by neighbours as a solitary man who had few friends locally.
He lived alone seven miles away in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, where a police officer was stationed yesterday outside his semi-detached home. Mr McCormick is thought to have told one confidant he was depressed and considering taking his own life over his money woes.
It was also suggested Mr Thompson owed him several thousand pounds from a business deal and had failed to repay the debt.
Mr McCormick turned up at the sprawling farm south of East Kilbride on Tuesday morning and blasted Mr Thompson with a shotgun before turning it on his son.
John, 36, suffered injuries to his leg and remains in a stable condition at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride. Meanwhile, Mr McCormick returned to his car and shot himself dead. Police would not comment on whether officers had been able to speak to John.
According to one of Mr McCormick's friends, the local farming community sensed he was responsible for the shootings before his name was released as one of the dead.
He had lived on a farm in nearby Newton Mearns with his father until his death in 2001.
The source said: "McCormick was saying he loaned Peter Thompson money a lot of money - in the thousands.
"He had told people he went to Thompson for his money back numerous times but got nowhere.
"Things got desperate. He has ended it himself and decided to take the man he blamed for pushing him to the brink with him."
Mr McCormick's younger brother John also died from gunshot wounds back in 1984. He was found in his Glasgow home with fatal head injuries when he was aged just 21.
Meanwhile, neighbours recounted their shock after armed police descended on the gunman's Clarkston home about an hour after the 8am incident.
Community councillor Ian Thomas, 65, said: "It was around 9.30am on Tuesday when a black Hyundai car pulled up outside the house across the road.
"A man and a woman got out the car and the next thing I knew there were police everywhere.
"Officers spoke to the man and woman. Meanwhile, other officers with guns broke down the front door.
"The police were holding their guns up, aiming them, while they were looking around. I took a step back from the window. I couldn't believe what I was seeing."
He said Mr McCormick, who had lived at the address for the past three years, never made an effort to become friends with his neighbours in the close-knit community.
He added: "He was a bit of a loner, who kept himself to himself, he never spoke.
"I knew he had farming friends, because quite often four-wheel drive cars would be parked outside the house, but I never knew if he had any connection to the farm in East Kilbride."
The murder victim had split from his wife Caron two years ago and she has since started a new family. She gave birth to a baby daughter in June last year and is now living in a farm near Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
Police Scotland said yesterday it was continuing to carry out "significant inquiries" and is not looking for anyone else.
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