THE father of a man shot by police insisted last night that his son was not carrying a gun.

Jack Gemmill, 52, said: "I want a full and proper investigation, and to get to the bottom of what happened."

His family, who have gangland connections, believe John Gemmill, 32, was carrying only an umbrella wrapped up in a jacket when an officer from Strathclyde Police fired on him in Glasgow.

Strathclyde Police declined to comment on unconfirmed reports that he was unarmed but had brandished the covered umbrella like a shotgun.

They also refused to say if any firearm has been recovered from the shooting, or if any articles connected to the investigation had been found.

Mr Gemmill, known as Justin, was in a serious, but stable condition in the Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow, last night.

His relations, from the Carntyne area of the city, are linked to gangsters in Glasgow's east end. They include Justin's uncle, James Gemmill, who made a fortune from selling bootleg alcohol and smuggled cigarettes in Glasgow before moving in on Aberdeen's heroin scene in 1996.

Jack Gemmill said he feared there would be attempts to blacken his son's character. "I know it is rubbish to say that he had a gun. He would not carry a gun. He is 32, but is just a big boy, and I want the truth to come out. He was just going to meet his girlfriend."

An investigation into the shooting is being carried out by Pat Shearer, depute chief constable of Grampian Police, in accordance with Association of Chief Police Officers' guidance on firearms.

Mr Gemmill was shot in the stomach on Thursday night after a chase said to have started in Bridgeton and finished across the River Clyde in the New Gorbals. Marksmen had converged in Waddell Court at Queen Elizabeth Gardens after being called to an incident.

Eyewitness accounts were confused, ranging from the number of shots being fired to suggestions Mr Gemmill went down on one knee as if to shoot at his pursuers.

A police spokesman said the man was "stable", but declined further comment because an investigation was under way.

A family friend said Mr Gemmill was heavily medicated following an operation on wounds from a bullet which splintered in the lower abdomen.

He said: "The family is considering a court action. Police seem to be doing a thorough job of investigating, and it will await the outcome before deciding what steps will be taken."

Areas stretching from Glasgow Green to Old Rutherglen Road, and the footbridge over the Clyde have been cordoned off, with dozens of officers involved in ground searches.

One resident said he saw the entire incident unfold from his first-floor living room. "I . . .

saw this guy running round the corner. A couple of seconds later there was six or seven police behind him. Somebody shouted: 'He's got a gun.' Next thing, I heard a shot and the guy was lying on the ground and a policeman was standing over him pointing a gun at him."

He said he thought the man had been carrying "what looked like a shotgun".

It is believed the last time a man was shot by Strathclyde Police was in Forth, Lanarkshire, in 1993, when Andrew Somerville was hit twice in the chest after abducting a woman and her fiance, whom he shot in the head. Somerville, who was shot after opening fire and injuring three officers, is still in prison.

In August 2003, Jenny Marr, from London, was shot by police in West Lothian in Scotland's first attempted so-called "suicide by cop". She made a full recovery.

She was shot in the stomach after she refused to put down a pistol at a remote cottage.

After the shooting a police source claimed Ms Marr had left a suicide note at the cottage, expecting officers to shoot her.

Since 1969 there have only been two fatalities in Scotland.

In 1969, James Griffiths, 34, sought by police in connection with the murder of a couple in Ayr, went on the rampage with a rifle and a shotgun. He was shot dead by police in a house in Springburn. High on drugs and knowing the police were closing in, Griffiths fired indiscriminately into a children's playground. He shot nine men, one fatally, two women, a child, and a police officer.

In 1992, Strathclyde Police shot dead Arthur Stewart in Dalmuir.

Another Scot shot and killed by police was 46-year-old Harry Stanley, originally from Bellshill, Lanarkshire. He was shot in 1999 by police in London who mistook a table leg he was carrying for a sawn-off shotgun.