Even by the standards of No Mean City in the 60s, it was one of the most violent days in Glasgow’s battle-scarred history.
Gunman James Griffiths, wanted by police for the murder of a pensioner, embarked on a two-hour shooting spree travelling from the west end to Springburn in the north of the city.
Griffiths’ spree, during which he took potshots from a rifle and a shotgun at terrified random victims, remains one of the bloodiest episodes in modern Scottish history and only ended when he was killed by a police bullet.
It gave Griffiths the ignominy of becoming the first man shot dead by police in this country.
The siege claimed the life of one man, William Hughes, who was shot in the Round Toll Bar in Possilpark.
Incredibly, Griffiths opened fire there having decided to stop for a drink as police tailed him across the city.
Peter Traynor was his youngest target. The seven-year-old was hit by a bullet as he played on swings with his brother and sister.
Now, as the 50th anniversary approaches, office worker Peter has broken his silence about the day he cheated death alongside David, four, and Angela, three, as they played in Springburn.
He told how Griffiths shot at the trio and a bullet hit David’s glass bottle of Barr’s limeade and ricocheted into
his abdomen.
Peter, now 57, said: “I didn’t realise I’d been hit at first. My sister and I were in the playground when we could see Griffiths standing at the kitchen window with his rifle.
“She walked up to a fence and pointed at him and called me over.
“We’d no idea what was going on but he was looking at us. Then about four police vans came into the street and Griffiths started shooting at anything that moved.
“We ran back towards the swing park. Griffiths opened fire on the playground and hit the bottle of limeade in my brother’s hand.
“Everyone started screaming and ran as fast as they could. The police took us into a nearby pub called Shevlanes.
“I remember there was a guy who’d been shot and was lying injured, covered with a blanket. Even inside the pub, you could still hear the shots being fired.
“I was given first aid and taken to hospital. The bullet grazed my stomach but it could have been a lot worse for me and my brother.
Cop drama at Nacho Novo's bar as lounge and neighbouring salon taped off in Glasgow
“If it was not for the two police officers who got Griffiths, there would have been more injuries and deaths. My family are very grateful for their bravery.”
Peter, who works for a utilities company, now lives in the city’s Parkhead.
He added: “Our mum had taken us to the park because it was such a lovely day.
“Griffiths was a maniac and didn’t care who he hit. He was moving between
different rooms and firing at people from the front and back of the house.
“The swing park was reopened after a few hours when he was shot dead. When I returned to school after the summer holidays, no one believed what had happened to me – even though it had been in the papers.
“The 50th anniversary has brought it all flooding back.”
The day of violent mayhem began when police tried to speak to Griffiths at his flat in Holyrood Crescent in Glasgow’s west end.
They wanted to question him about the death of pensioner Rachel Ross, who had been killed in an armed robbery in Ayr nine days before.
But Griffiths began shooting at officers from the flat, hitting one in the back, before escaping through a back garden.
He hijacked a car and led police on a chase through the city.
Griffiths gave police the slip for long enough to stop at the Round Toll Bar, where he shot innocent drinker William dead.
Incredibly, the pub’s landlord decided to throw Griffiths out of the pub. He then hijacked a lorry, ending up in Kay Street, Springburn.
Cornered by police, he raced into a block of flats, breaking into a top-floor property from where he started shooting at innocents below, including Peter and his siblings.
Detective Sergeant Ian Smith – a firearms specialist – was drafted in to apprehend Griffiths.
Armed with handguns, Smith and Chief Superintendent Malcolm Finlayson sneaked into the tenement close.
When Griffiths, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, ignored their pleas to surrender and fired at the officers, Finlayson hit him with a shot through the letter box before the pair stormed the property and dragged him out. He died from his injuries, aged 34.
Smith died in 1999, aged 75. His son, also Ian, revealed how the officer – who got a police bravery award and was given the British Empire Medal by the Queen – never discussed the operation to catch Griffiths.
Terrified boys plied with vodka and Irn Bru before sex attack by pervert working in ice cream van
He said: “I only learned about my dad’s involvement six months later when I read that he had got a bravery medal.
“The following year he and mum went down to Buckingham Palace to get the BEM.
“But he never spoke about what happened, even though I often asked him.”
Finlayson was also given the BEM at the same ceremony in London and was honoured by Glasgow Police for his bravery.
Smith had joined the City of Glasgow Police aged 25, having seen service in the RAF during World War II.
He reached the rank of Detective Superintendent and retired in 1984 at the age of 59.
Ian, 64, of Croftfoot, Glasgow, added: “The whole family are very proud of dad and the fact that his bravery saved the lives of others and prevented further injury and loss of life.
“What both he and Malcolm showed that day was cold, raw courage to take out an armed and dangerous man.”
Finlayson died at his home on Skye at the age of 83 in 1993.
The Glasgow Police Museum, in Merchant City’s Bell Street, has a special tribute to the two police heroes.
The year after the attack – which happened on July 15, 1969 – Peter took part in a TV World In Action documentary about the shootings.
Griffiths was given a pauper’s funeral in Linn Cemetery, Glasgow.
The Lord Advocate ruled that there would be no public inquiry into his death, saying the officers had taken the necessary steps to protect the public. He also praised their bravery.
Griffiths was also a suspect for the murder of pensioner Rachel.
The 72-year-old died after she and her businessman husband were beaten and robbed by raiders in their Ayr home on July 6, 1969.
Griffiths’ associate Paddy Meehan was later convicted of her murder but pleaded his innocence.
In 1976, Meehan, who is now dead, became the only Scot to receive a royal pardon after a long-running campaign led by author and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy and Glasgow criminal lawyer Joe Beltrami.
