Two wannabe gangsters boasted about a shooting while miming to gangster rap music in a chilling video filmed as they fled in their getaway vehicle.
The video was recorded and uploaded to social media site TikTok after John McCann, 35, and Anton Brannigan, 30, had blasted Robert “Boab” Spence in the head with a sawn-off shotgun in what a court heard was a “planned assassination attempt."
The pair targeted Spence as he sat in a van outside a shop in Glasgow last year. Gary Milne, who was sitting beside Mr Spence after buying food early in the morning, was also hit by pellets. Afterwards, McCann and Brannigan filmed themselves making gun gestures while listening to rap as they fled to England.
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McCann, who was driving, was still wearing black gloves worn during the shooting which happened on January 12, 2021. He also looked into the camera and said: “Bang, bang, where is your crew?” as their stereo blared reports the Daily Record. Brannigan ended the video, which lasted just over a minute, by drawing his finger across his throat.
The duo tried to deny knowing their victims during an eight-day trial at the High Court in Glasgow. But they were convicted by a jury and jailed on Tuesday for the attempted murders of Spence and Milne.
“Brannigan made the video and sent it to a few of his mates. His pals then forwarded it on and within a couple of hours it had been seen by hundreds of people" a source said.
“He seemed really pleased with what they had done. They must look back and realise that making that video was a really stupid thing to do.”
“Brannigan sticks his tongue out and makes a gun symbol five times then runs his finger along his throat. He was enjoying himself and didn’t seem to have any worries" they added. “McCann shouting ‘Bang, bang where is your crew?’ is clearly a message being sent.”
The trial heard how Brannigan and McCann arrived at the scene in a white Seat Ibiza car and lay in wait outside the One Stop Shop in the Tollcross area, in the north of Glasgow. A van containing Spence and Milne pulled up outside the store at around 7.34am.
The victims collected coffee and rolls from the shop and were shot after they returned to their vehicle. The attackers later fled to Brannigan’s cousin’s home in Hull before returning to Glasgow the next day.
Prosecutor Graeme Jessop referred to the video when quizzing Brannigan in the dock and asked if he was bragging about the shooting. Brannigan replied: “No, just singing a song.”
Text messages from the day of the shooting were recovered by police. McCann stated to a friend that he and Brannigan needed a place to “lay low for a while” and asked for the car to be “burned” out. Their vehicle was found with different number plates in Yorkshire three days after the shooting.
Spence and Milne were taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary where medics removed pellets from their heads. Neither man suffered serious injuries.
The court heard Brannigan and McCann have more than 20 previous convictions each. Brannigan was sentenced to 67 months for assault and robbery in 2010.
Judge Michael O’Grady told both men: “The point of your ambition is to be regarded by others and yourselves as gangsters. Whatever else you are, you are immature childish fantasists – you are dangerous fantasists.” Sentence was deferred until next month and both men were remanded in custody.
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