A dog has tragically died and his owner was injured after being caught in the crossfire of a shooting.
Police said the white Maltichon pooch named Henry was killed during the incident in Cumbernauld on Thursday night.
The innocent pet was out walking with his owner who was also injured during attack which was targeted at a 27-year-old man.
The Glasgow Times understands that the woman was shot at and the bullet grazed her hand.
READ MORE: Woman injured after masked raid on home in South Lanarkshire
The force has now revealed the circumstances leading up to the targeted attack which also resulted in the man being taken to hospital to be treated for serious injuries.
They said four men in a silver Ford Focus drove into the street at around 6.55 pm.
Three of the thugs then got out of the car and chased the man while carrying a firearm, which was fired, and a bladed weapon.
The victim was taken to the hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries to his back.
Henry's owner, 52, suffered a minor injury to her hand but her dog died as a result of the firearm being discharged.
The suspects are described as wearing dark clothing and possibly balaclavas.
The silver Ford Focus was found burnt out Fannyside Mill, Moore Road, at Forrest Road near to Blackthorn Roundabout around 7.55pm that night. The partial registration is 67 ZKZ.
Armed cops attended alongside local officers as standard procedure.
The force's Major Investigation Team believes this was a targeted attack.
Detective Chief Inspector Gillian Grant said: "This was completely reckless and the fact this happened in a residential street shows the suspects had a complete disregard for the safety of the public.
"A woman who was simply walking her dog has been left absolutely devastated.
"There is an increased police presence in the area and reassurance patrols will be carried out. A team of detectives will be conducting CCTV and house-to-house enquiries.
READ MORE: Glasgow police officer seriously injured in crash while responding to emergency call
"I would appeal to the public to contact us with any relevant information about this attack. I would ask specifically if anyone witnessed the attack or saw a silver Ford Focus shortly before or after the incident to contact us.
"Could I appeal to anyone driving in the Eastfield Road and Dullater Road area last night around 6.55 pm to check dashcam footage and contact us."
Anyone with information should call 101 quoting incident number 3095 of 23 January 2020, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here