Edinburgh casino shooting at the Maybury

A MAN was gunned down in a shooting outside Edinburgh's famous Maybury Casino late last night.

The 62-year-old was shot in the head as he left the Maybury Road casino just before midnight.

His attacker was then chased towards the junction at Turnhouse Road by several witnesses.

The man was rushed to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and later transferred to another hospital but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

A large spray of blood was clearly visible behind a large police cordon just yards from the casino entrance this morning.

Isobel Pratt, 65, of North Gyle Terrace, whose house overlooks the crime scene, witnessed paramedics work on the stricken man.

"I looked outside and there was an ambulance and police cars outside the casino and a man lying on the ground."

As soon as the incident occurred the casino was locked down and gamblers were stopped from leaving for four hours while preliminary investigations took place.

Francis Chan, 68, from Chesser, said his car was blocked behind the cordon and, like many others, he was unable to collect it until early this morning.

He said: "Myself and a party of my Chinese friends were sitting in a quiet corner and then at about 11.30pm a call came over the tannoy saying that there had been an incident outside and that we were all to remain inside the building.

"Then the police came in and started asking questions. They took my name and copies of my ID but we didn't see anything.

"We were kept inside the building until about 3am. The whole casino was stopped while everyone was questioned.

"When I got outside the whole area around the casino was blocked off and I wasn't allowed to take my car."

Throughout the morning people were collecting their cars from the scene.

Customers filling up at the Shell Garage across the road from the Maybury said they heard rumours of a "drive-by" gun attack. One onlooker said: "We heard they removed a number of cars this morning following a drive-by shooting."

Police have issued a description of the man they are hunting. The suspect is described as white, 23 to 25-years-old, 5ft 8in to 5ft 11in tall, with a skinny build, and wearing a dark coloured baseball cap, dark coloured jacket and trousers.

Detective Inspector Robert Deas, who is leading the investigation, said: "This was an extremely serious incident and we are appealing to the public for any information that can help us track down the suspect.

"Although there were a number of witnesses, we still want to speak to people who were in the vicinity of the casino last night.

"We also want to speak to anyone who recognises the description of the suspect, and may have seen him either before or after the shooting happened.

"We would urge anyone who has information that can help us identify the man responsible to get in touch immediately."

A cleaning crew was outside the casino mopping the steps this morning and police were due to conduct a thorough search of the grounds this afternoon.

A spokeswoman for Gala Casinos, which owns the venue, said: "I can confirm there was an incident there last night and we are working with police."

Retired policeman Brian Wilson, 56, now a taxi driver, from the adjacent North Gyle Terrace, returned home at about 11 o'clock last night but said he was unaware of any disturbance outside.

He said: "I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've been in the casino in the last few years and even when I do go in it's earlier in the evening. There's never any trouble around here, it's a quiet street."

The casino is one of the most popular in the city.

Thanks to its location near the Gyle, it is a regular destination with both Lothians residents and those who travel through from the west of Scotland to gamble.

It recently lost out in its bid to become the first in Scotland to extend its opening hours beyond the Government guidelines of midday to 6am.

The extension was opposed by Church of Scotland leaders, with critics saying allowing round-the-clock gambling was akin to handing unlimited supplies of heroin to a drug dealer.

A sign outside the casino door this morning advertised a Mafia-themed murder mystery night on June 27.