A woman who was murdered at a north-east tower block was described last night as a “special person” who was one of a kind.
Tracy Gabriel died along with Keith Taylor after being attacked at a flat in Aberdeen’s Tillydrone area.
Hugh Gallacher died after jumping from the 12th floor of the high rise.
Police said yesterday they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the tragedy – and revealed the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) would examine Mr Gallacher’s death as officers were at the scene when he jumped.
They were called to the 19-storey Donside Court tower block after reports of a disturbance.
Yesterday, police maintained a large presence in the neighbourhood as floral tributes were laid at the scene and residents spoke of their shock.
Detective Chief Inspector Keith Hardie, of the force’s major investigation team, said: “Officers attended at Donside Court following reports of a disturbance and found the bodies of a man and a woman within a flat.
“Both of these deaths are being investigated and treated as murder.
“At this stage, we can also confirm that a second man died at the scene a short time after officers attended.
“The circumstances of this death are likewise being investigated.
“Given that officers were present at the time of the death, the procurator fiscal has instructed the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner to review the circumstances.
“I would like to reiterate that at this stage we are not looking for anyone else in relation to these deaths and I would like to reassure the public that this was a contained incident and there is no wider threat to the community.
“A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal in relation to all three deaths later today.”
Miss Gabriel is understood to have been a mum-of-four who was originally from the Huntly area and went to Alford Academy.
One of her friends, Shona Trowbridge, took to social media to pay tribute to her.
She said: “You were a special person, I grew up with you, we had some good times and some absolutely funny ones but we did have some bad times also, but we did what was best for us all, we kept smiling and seen them through, you were one of a kind, RIP my quine Tracy Gabriel.”
Tillydrone, Seaton and Old Aberdeen councillor Ross Grant said: “This is a tough day for communities across my ward and indeed the city of Aberdeen itself.
“These are tight-knit communities, so incidents like these are particularly shocking.
“My sympathies lie with the victims of these attacks.
“As the police are still investigating I think we need to give them time and space to do that.”
Resident Susan Smith, 51, said: “I saw four to five police cars and vans coming down the road.
“Police were doing CPR on the man who had landed outside the court before the paramedics arrived.
“Four or five ambulances then arrived and went into the building, but they did not come out with bodies.
“Tillydrone has a bad reputation, but I’ve lived here for 35 years, and it’s a quiet area with a lot of community spirit.
“I lived in a high rise for a good number of years and people keep themselves to themselves.
“It’s one of the poorest areas in the city but there is not so much trouble here.”
A spokeswoman for Pirc said: “The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has instructed Pirc to undertake an investigation following a disturbance in which two men and a woman died at a flat in Donside Court in Aberdeen on Tuesday, July 19.
“The investigation will focus on the circumstances leading up to the death of the second man following the arrival of police officers at the scene.
“A report on the commissioner’s findings will be submitted to the Crown Office in due course.”
Eyewitness account: ‘I heard a woman’s screams’
A young mother has described hearing screaming and a female shouting for help at the block of flats.
Toni Dey, 19, who lives in nearby Gordon’s Mills Road, said she heard screaming from the block.
The mother-of-two said: “I heard some girl screaming ‘Help me, help me’, then about 10 minutes after I heard loads of screaming and shouting.
“I didn’t call the police as I thought it was kids messing around, then I heard loads of police.
“I can’t remember exactly what time I heard it all.
“It was awful to hear all that, then actually hear what had happened.”
Ms Dey added: “It’s very scary to think that something like that had happened.
“All I kept thinking was ‘why was that poor girl shouting help me?’, and about a two-minute walk out my back door.
“I just moved in here in May and it’s been so quiet. I was shocked to hear anything as I never normally do.”
One resident said she saw a man falling as she looked out the window of her home on the fifth floor.
The 20-year-old said: “I saw him falling.
“I was playing on my computer and I heard something happening and at that I moment I looked out the window.”
She said she did not know the man well but he “always smiled when you said hello to him”.
City councillor Martin Greig, who is chairman of the Aberdeen Community Safety Partnership, said: “There will be families grieving profoundly at this terrible news. Our sympathies are with those who have lost loved ones.
“The local community and the city will share feelings of shock at this violent incident.”
From the scene: P&J reporter Joe Churcher
Sadness, curiosity and a sense of frustration were the emotions of Tillydrone residents at the horrifying events on their doorsteps.
Sadness over the deaths of three members of the community, although few claimed to have known the murdered pair or the man who died after plunging from a balcony.
Two bunches of flowers lay beside the police cordon near where Hugh Gallacher hit the ground, with another propped up by the communal front door of the block of flats where the tragedy unfolded.
Curiosity as to which, if any, of the whirl of stories and scenarios circulating in the neighbourhood was closest to the true sequence of events.
Many first thought a police officer had died as false information swept social media.
And disappointment that an area on the up after years of problems fuelled by drug use had been thrust back into some sort of notoriety.
Almost universally they said the departure of a generation of addicts and the arrival of eastern European neighbours had been a blessing.
Streets surrounding the imposing tower block were almost empty of all but investigators and journalists – the scorching sun of the day of the triple tragedy having given way to torrential rain.
Summer holidays, thankfully, meant youngsters were spared passing the scene on their way to a school and lads’ club just a short walk away.
Only later, after the bodies of the murder victims had been taken away in a black funeral director’s van, did a dry spell encourage curious groups of youngsters and dog walkers to linger for a look.
What they saw was a block once listed for demolition but since renovated as a new generation of migrant workers made it home.
Only a possible glimpse of a gash in the mesh installed to prevent accidental falls distinguished the balcony of the flat in question from those on the corners of each other floor.
The usual electronic front door security was replaced by a lone police officer who was passed only by vetted residents and visitors and forensic teams removing bags of evidence from the crime scene inside.
Among the arrivals were a pair visiting to comfort a friend traumatised at seeing the man fall past his window.
Mothers diverted cycling children around the back of the block, apparently to shield them from the police activity.
Normal life, as ever, occasionally intervened on the otherwise sober scene in unexpected ways.
The arrival of a sofa would have passed unnoticed had it not proved too big for the lift and an attempt to manhandle it via the stairs been halted by the police – leaving its new owner sitting in comfort outdoors.
Among those taking refuge from the downpours in shops, pubs and doorways there was a clear sense that the quicker the focus could return to such mundane, everyday concerns, the better.
