A FRIEND and associate of a gangland figure shot dead in a supermarket car park has told a court how he scrambled out of the car just before the shooting.
Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll was in the back seat of a parked black Audi A3 when two masked gunmen killed him outside Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow.
John Bonner, who acted as Mr Carroll's driver, told the High Court in Glasgow a Volkswagen Golf pulled up in front of them and he saw two men in masks getting out.
He said he felt "something wasn't right" and scrambled out of the car, leaving "Gerbil" in the back. He added: "I tried to get out of the motor as fast as I could. Something wasn't right. I fell out of the motor. I was scared. I just heard the bangs and I was on the ground."
Mr Bonner said he hid behind another vehicle until he heard the car "screeching away".
He was giving evidence at the trial of Ross Monaghan, 30, who denies shooting and murdering Mr Carroll, while acting with others, on January 13, 2010.
Mr Bonner said that, when he returned to the car, he found Mr Carroll dead in the back seat with the door locked. He said he had the car keys in his hand as he jumped from the vehicle and must have accidentally locked it as he fell on the ground.
The court heard Mr Bonner was shot 10 months earlier while driving a blue VW Golf that Mr Carroll had bought for him. He said he had become "paranoid" about being attacked again but said he was unaware Mr Carroll had been involved in any criminal activity.
But Derek Ogg, QC, representing Monaghan, asked him: "He was a major Glasgow criminal involved in all sorts of crimes. Are you the only person in this building who doesn't know that?"
Mr Bonner replied: "I must be, aye."
The trial also heard evidence from Asda manager Steven McKenna, who said he watched the drama unfold from a window in a staff room.
He said he "heard bangs" and turned to see two men getting out of a car and another two men fleeing from a black car. Mr McKenna claimed he saw the first two men firing handguns at a black Audi car that had been blocked in by a second "sporty" vehicle.
He said he activated the supermarket's "panic alarm" and dialled 999, as he saw the two men in balaclavas get back in their car and drive away. He then went to see if he could help the person who had been shot.
Mr McKenna told the court: "I walked in the direction of the vehicle and could clearly see the right passenger window had been almost completely shattered. There was a hole the size of a football in the centre of it.
"There was an adult male lying in the back seat and I realised there was nothing I could do for him."
Mr McKenna said he noticed the two men he saw running from the car and tried to approach them. He said: "I realised pretty quickly they weren't going to give me their real names, so I left them alone."
The manager said three more men then arrived in a red car who "obviously knew" the dead man. He added: "I decided to step back from the vehicle until the police arrived."
Monaghan has lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming a man who cannot be named for legal reasons and seven others.
He is also alleged to have attempted to defeat the ends of justice by concealing a revolver, a pistol and ammunition under bricks and undergrowth in Academy Street in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, and setting fire to a car. He is further charged with possessing guns and ammunition without a proper certificate.
The trial continues.
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