This has been in the news, he was shot in the back of the neck by a single bullet, shocking... And now the parents have to pick up the pieces. I hope they catch the b@stards

 

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Boy, 11, dies after pub shooting

The 11-year-old was hit by one of three shots fired

 

An 11-year-old boy has died after being shot in the neck in the Croxteth area of Liverpool.

The incident happened at about 1930 BST on Wednesday in the car park of the Fir Tree public house on Fir Tree Drive.

 

A witness said the victim was one of three boys walking across the car park when a teenager on a BMX bicycle fired three shots, one of which hit the boy.

 

Merseyside Police have appealed directly to local gangs for information about the killing.

 

Officers have sealed off the scene, including a neighbouring parade of shops, and no-one has yet been arrested in connection with the shooting.

 

'Ripped apart'

 

Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne appealed to the local community to help catch the killer.

 

He said: "Someone out there knows who put the gun in his hand and I want your help to get the community to turn that gunman in.

 

 

"This is quite an awful crime, quite senseless, and the community holds the clue to solving this crime quickly.

"You can only imagine the heartache of the family that's been ripped apart.

 

"We urge anybody, particularly in the criminal fraternity, that this is quite an awful and senseless crime and please turn in who is responsible quickly.

 

"There is no hiding place and no time for silence."

 

The eyewitness, who did not want to be named but was drinking outside the pub, said a youth aged about 14 or 15, wearing a hoodie, rode up to the car park and fired three shots from a distance of about 30 metres.

 

One shot missed the boys and another hit a car, while the other bullet entered the victim's neck.

 

People came from the pub to help the victim, whose mother was also called to the scene.

 

A spokesman for North West Ambulance Service said: "We treated an 11-year-old with serious gunshot wounds."

 

He added the boy, who had been returning from football training on playing fields close to the pub, was taken to Alder Hey hospital where he was pronounced dead.

 

'Gangs of youths'

 

Councillor Rose Bailey, who lives nearby and is a member of the local police authority, appealed for people with information to come forward.

 

She added: "It sends shockwaves through the community of Croxteth and really it must be devastating.

 

"To think your young son is out playing football and then to get a call to say he's been shot, I really don't know as a parent how you would handle that."

 

The area around the pub was made a "designated area" by police last year, meaning officers could disperse groups and move people away from the area.

 

The decision was made in response to concerns raised by local residents about youths gathering outside the pub and local shops.

 

At the time, Neighbourhood Inspector Louise Harrison said: "The designated area has been introduced in response to concerns about gangs of youths who hang around the local area behaving in an anti-social way."

 

 

its really sad :(

Truly shocking :(

 

If it turns out he was involved in drug dealing or anything and was killed in a "hit" by a rival drugs gang which sadly most shootings in inner cities seem to be then I will revise my opinion and have less sympathy but if this was just some kid in the wrong place at the wrong time then it is just awful

It's shocking to be sure, but not entirely without precedent... This sort of thing happened in Moss Side in the early 90s when rival ecstacy dealers would go around shooting each other in "turf wars".. And yeah, there were cases of "bike-by" shootings at this time....

Yeah if it was drug related and this 11 year old had been dealing drugs then I will go from having sympathy to thinking "$h!t happens, thats 1 less drug dealing scum on our streets" but I will reserve judgement at this time until the facts are clear

 

 

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool.

Rhys had been playing football with friends when he was shot by a youth on a black BMX bike at a pub car park in Croxteth on Wednesday night.

Police said the arrested boy was held on Broadway in nearby Norris Green.

An abandoned bicycle has been found in an area with a different postcode to the shooting, and it is being examined, said police.

Officers also confirmed descriptions of the killer's firearm, describing it as a black handgun with a long barrel.

Earlier police urged local people to come forward to help identify the killer, and said they were disappointed with the response from the public.

Assistant Chief Constable Patricia Gallan said someone in the community knew who had shot Rhys.

Parents speak of loss

"We need to get this killer off the street. Within this community people know who is responsible for this crime," she said.

"We need your help. Come forward now and help put the suffering of Rhys's mum and dad at an end."

Merseyside Police said they would protect any witnesses who came forward and would guarantee their anonymity.

Rhys was shot in the car park of the Fir Tree pub at about 1930 BST. His mother Melanie held him as paramedics battled for 90 minutes to save his life.

Two local boys, aged 14 and 18, who were arrested on suspicion of murder, were released on Thursday night.

Merseyside Police have been handing out leaflets in the area with a special number for young people to text information anonymously.

Anyone with information can text the word "crime" followed by their message to 61051.

 

We all here at Everton have families of our own and we cannot comprehend what you are going through.

Phil Neville, Everton FC captain

 

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Rhys's mother made a plea for her son's killer to be found.

She said: "Our son was only 11, our baby.

"This should not happen, this should not be going on. Please help us."

Rhys's father Stephen said: "We have lost our world, the world has lost a good guy."

Rhys supported Everton, and the club is to hold a minute's silence in his memory before Saturday's home game against Blackburn Rovers.

Players from both teams will wear black armbands.

The club has sent a message of condolence to Rhys's family, while captain Phil Neville has joined calls for members of the community to come forward with information.

''On behalf of everyone here at Everton Football Club and the players especially, I send my condolences to the Jones family on the tragic death of their son Rhys," he said.

"We all here at Everton have families of our own and we cannot comprehend what you are going through."

Relatives, friends and neighbours gathered at a vigil for Rhys at Emmaus Church of England and Catholic Primary School in Croxteth on Thursday evening.

It is near the place where Rhys was shot on his way home from football training.

Tony Edge, who broke the news of the shooting to the family has also appealed for people to come forward.

He said: "Tell the police, they don't have to give their names or anything, they just have to give this person up.

"This is a little kid who went to play football, who doesn't do any harm to anyone.

"I had an image of Rhys, this little laughing boy, and my final image of him isn't that, my final image of him is him lying there in a pool of blood."

 

 

from the bbc

 

this is a shame

For christ sake a 16 year old boy with a blinking gun, how on earth do 16 years old get hold of lethal weapons, I blame the parents for their terrible upbringing.

Guns are p*** easy to get though Mikey, were I so inclined (I am not) I could very easily get a gun tonight with little or no effort at all, sadly they are as easy to obtain as a bar of chocolate in this day and age if you live in a city so a few hundred £ could easily secure a piece

 

The killer would have had no probs getting a gun

 

While I do not wish to cast aspersions on the character of the victim this seems to be on the surface a planned and professionally carried out execution as opposed to an argument that got out of hand or a case of mistaken identity or a madman running amok it was a single shot carried out so it looks to me like an assassination which in my opinion leads me to think a drugs connection, the killer knew their target, doesn't look random to me

The UK gun laws are an absolute joke. After the Dunblane massacre, they banned everyone from keeping hand guns, so all the law abiding people who had a licence handed their guns in. Now we have all the criminals, gangs etc who have guns galore and nothing is done about it. Unless the punishment is seen as a deterent then these crimes will continue I'm afraid.

 

Who would bet against this time next year, we are reading about a 9 year old shot by a 10 year old. Don't think it won't happen. :angry:

The UK gun laws are an absolute joke. After the Dunblane massacre, they banned everyone from keeping hand guns, so all the law abiding people who had a licence handed their guns in. Now we have all the criminals, gangs etc who have guns galore and nothing is done about it. Unless the punishment is seen as a deterent then these crimes will continue I'm afraid.

 

Who would bet against this time next year, we are reading about a 9 year old shot by a 10 year old. Don't think it won't happen. :angry:

 

Possession of a gun in this country carries 10-15 years of doing bird so you are not correct there Brian but how do you catch them ? police search every house in the country for guns ? bring back Stop and Search which you know and I know would be abused along racial lines ? what do you propose should be done to find these guns ?

The UK gun laws are an absolute joke. After the Dunblane massacre, they banned everyone from keeping hand guns, so all the law abiding people who had a licence handed their guns in. Now we have all the criminals, gangs etc who have guns galore and nothing is done about it. Unless the punishment is seen as a deterent then these crimes will continue I'm afraid.

 

Who would bet against this time next year, we are reading about a 9 year old shot by a 10 year old. Don't think it won't happen. :angry:

 

 

why would a law abiding citizen want to own a gun?

 

I fully agree with the law changes after Dunblane.

 

Thomas Hamilton owned his guns legally. Didn't stop him walking into a school and murdering 16 six year old children, that number only so low due to the actions of the teachers, one of who died shielding a child with her body. Another huddled her class under chairs whilst he fired shots into her classroom.

 

But there is a "climate of fear" .... the gangs gain their power from their guns, so everyone keeps quiet and lives in fear.

 

Can I honestly say if I knew my 16 year old son had a gun I would turn him in? YES

Would it be possible for my son to get so far in gangs / drungs / guns without me knowing? NO

 

These thugs in gangs acting all 'gangsta' and cool are likely to be scared kids desperate to fit it - what a pity their parents didn't spend a little time giving them self respect and self confidence to stand up for themsleves, to allow them to make the right choices not follow the gang!!!!!

 

Again society allows parents to delegate responsibity for their offspring.

"I can't tell him what to do" - yes you bloody can!!! ...... I see this attitude in parents to 4 years olds - how the hell are they going to control them when they are 15??

Edited August 25, 200717 yr by ICR

"$h!t happens, thats 1 less drug dealing scum on our streets" but I will reserve judgement at this time until the facts are clear

 

A bit harsh Craig... We're not talking about some adult here who's been in and out of jails for years, there's always a chance that a kid could see the error of their ways given the proper guidance... IMO, the root of the problem is, as is always the case in about 99.999999% of these things, in the home and most of the blame can be laid at the feet of parents...

 

why would a law abiding citizen want to own a gun?

 

I fully agree with the law changes after Dunblane.

 

Thomas Hamilton owned his guns legally. Didn't stop him walking into a school and murdering 16 six year old children, that number only so low due to the actions of the teachers, one of who died shielding a child with her body. Another huddled her class under chairs whilst he fired shots into her classroom.

 

But there is a "climate of fear" .... the gangs gain their power from their guns, so everyone keeps quiet and lives in fear.

 

Can I honestly say if I knew my 16 year old son had a gun I would turn him in? YES

Would it be possible for my son to get so far in gangs / drungs / guns without me knowing? NO

 

These thugs in gangs acting all 'gangsta' and cool are likely to be scared kids desperate to fit it - what a pity their parents didn't spend a little time giving them self respect and self confidence to stand up for themsleves, to allow them to make the right choices not follow the gang!!!!!

 

Again society allows parents to delegate responsibity for their offspring.

"I can't tell him what to do" - yes you bloody can!!! ...... I see this attitude in parents to 4 years olds - how the hell are they going to control them when they are 15??

 

Agreed, there's no way that Thomas Hamilton could possibly have carried out the Dunblane massacre had he not had access to legal firearms. Even worse is the fact that it could easily have been prevented had the Police had the backbone to actually take his firearms licence away from him and confiscate his arsenal, and they DID have legitimate cause to, because he had issued threats to people in Dunblane, he was a KNOWN character and was identified as a potential danger to the public by several of his neighbours... There were allegations at the time that Hamilton had links to the Freemasons, and that this was the reason why the police turned a blind eye..... <_< Wouldn't at all surprise me if that were true....

 

 

 

Sad. I really, really hate guns. -_- This is just...ugh. I can't imagine why kids do this. Adults. Anyone.

Interesting Article from the Independent by Kevin Sampson

 

As news of Rhys Jones's shooting first began to unfold on Merseyside's local radio stations' news bulletins on Wednesday evening. The inferences were clear. Croxteth. Gun slaying. Pub car park. The only variance – and the thing that had the phone-ins humming with indignation – was the age of the victim. "What must the parents be thinking of?" came the resounding message. "Letting a kid of 11 join a gang – they should go on trial, too." Hard on the heels of 47-year-old Gary Newlove being kicked to death by a teen gang in nearby Warrington, the moral majority were queuing up to have their say: the youth of this country are out of control. The gun kids of Liverpool are now no different from those in City of God. How long before we have a nine or eight-year-old victim?

 

For the past couple of years, young street gangs from Croxteth – the Crockyheads – have fought a bloody turf war with the Strand Crew from neighbouring Norris Green (Nogzy). Exactly a year previously from the night of Rhys's murder, one of the Strand Crew's alleged leaders – Liam "Smigger" Smith – was gunned down outside Altcar Prison, where he'd been visiting another gang member. Those accused of his murder have been standing trial, and the verdict was due that same day.

 

One contributor to an Everton supporters' website speculated that Rhys was a key witness in the Smigger Smith murder trial. Another stated that the membership of ruthless young gun gangs involves an initiation ritual. Then one eloquent posting, from Rhys's uncle, silenced the gossips and turned the tide in favour of the heartbroken Jones family. His tone was restrained, trenchant, reasonable and yet utterly bewildered. He began: "Just to clear up any misunderstanding, this child had no possible need to be involved in gang culture as he had a loving family and unlimited access to his first and greatest love, which was to kick a football."

 

The cyber gangstas ceased with their theories. By Thursday morning, to the surprise and in some cases palpable disappointment of the media, we were not in Dodge City after all, but affluent Croxteth Park. When Rhys's father and mother, Stephen and Melanie, spoke of their grief, it was clear that we were watching and listening to decent, utterly devoted parents whose world had just been blown apart. The slant on the reportage of this tragedy changed.

 

Now the accent was on the horrors of gang culture. How has society in the UK descended to such levels of inhumanity – and why is this part of Liverpool so badly hit? To even get near to the nub of reality in these estates, you'd have to know them as they are now, and as they once were.

 

My mother moved to Norris Green as a small child and remembers it as a happy estate with plenty of green space. Every major conurbation has a Norris Green, built between the wars. These are the estates which, if you look at them on any map, have streets laid out in concentric circles, with a series of boulevards and crescents leading off. When Mum lived there, there was one bad family in their street, and nobody spoke to them. There was a central parade of shops in Scargreen Avenue, serving the community with all the essentials – a baker's, a grocer's, a butcher's, a chandler's. Last September, all the shops on that same parade were closed for the day of Liam Smith's funeral. Local youths had visited them and asked them to stay shut as a mark of respect. Fear of reprisals made sure they did so. A huge floral tribute was erected, reading "Smigger – Soldier". The city council, on police advice, did not remove the tribute from Scargreen Avenue for some weeks after the funeral.

 

Go down Scargreen Ave today and you'll be struck, pretty quickly, by how many young lads there are hanging around. They're all "Lowey'd up" – the uniform is black Lowe Alpine trappers hats and black Lowe Alpine jacket, worn with the hood up over the peak of the hat for added anonymity. Hands are shoved down the front of black trousers, unless otherwise occupied with the restraint of vicious dogs. A fighting dog such as a Staff (Staffordshire bull terrier) is as much a part of the look, and the mentality, as the scowling faces, challenging you to catch their eye. Yet, contrary to urban myth, they don't all carry guns. Whenever one is needed they can be hired for £50 an hour from an underworld figure called the Librarian.

 

I don't know these lads personally, but I meet plenty of them at the football. They act tough – they are tough – but so much of that posturing is integral to a lifestyle that has chosen them. Theirs is the first generation of kids born to Thatcher's Other Children. Much was made of her creation of a generation of youthful millionaires, but her government's accent on the individual to the detriment of the community meant that the close-knit spirit of areas like Norris Green was gradually, if not systematically, eroded. Young men and women who traditionally would have found apprenticeships from Merseyside's huge shipping and manufacturing base found those industries de-nationalised, de-unionised and fighting for survival. Between May 1979 and the next general election in June 1983, unemployment rose from 1.4 million to more than three million – the majority of new claimants aged between 16 and 24. Whereas once, there was one bad family in an entire community, whole tribes of school leavers were turning to drugs to fight boredom, and crime to feed the habit. These same kids are the parents of today's teen gangs. If it is the case that parents like these care little what their children are up to, then it's equally the case that they stopped caring about themselves some time ago.

 

Yesterday, Everton and Blackburn fans and players joined together to pay tribute to a dead child. Someone else's son took Rhys Jones away from his distraught family. If we are to break this cycle of despair, we need to rebuild communities rather than, as initially happened here, leaping to demonise their inhabitants.

Edited August 27, 200717 yr by Joey Deacon

I believe the above article is well intended but wrong. Much as i hate Thatcher i dont blame her for our current social problems.

There is a real blame culture at the moment. Apologists for scumbags will say, "oh, its XYZ " fault, not my fault, I couldn't help it. Articles like the Indy one give the scumbags an excuse to sieze on, and there will be those who know nothing of the working classes who will also think, thats a convenient excuse for doing nothing. And the nightmare goes on....

 

We cannot have the manufacturing base that we used to have, because everything is made cheaper in China. Unfortunate but true. That does not give the scumbags an excuse. There is plenty of work for them,say in hospitals, plumbing, electricians , painters/decorators, all sorts of work that is well paid. Then they come up with more stupid excuses "oh the immigrants take all the jobs"boll**ks

 

But the truth is that the scumbags are lazy idle good for nothing idiots who get easy money for selling drugs and doing f*** all else but make a nuisance of themselves. They have chosen the easy scrounging option because they are greedy and lazy with no work ethic whatsoever.

 

The middle classes are also to blame. Try building the extra prisons that are desparately needed and they will scream "not in my backyard, think of houseprices" So, we have no deterrents and no fear of authority, so the madness goes on and on, we get more and more laws that no-one can enforce and the suffering continues.

 

I think that Rhys Jones is an inocent victim of a mercyless crime and whoever did this aught to be shot.

 

Its not fair for a family to have their lives toughn apart by 1 person, who will serve X amount of years in a young offenders home..

It's scary just at how dangerous England has become, I mean, like Craig said, It's just so easy to get a gun or drugs, no matter what age you are. But will anything happen? No. Will whoever done it get brought down? No. If he gets caught, I can tell you now he'll only get a couple of years in prison.

I believe the above article is well intended but wrong. Much as i hate Thatcher i dont blame her for our current social problems.

There is a real blame culture at the moment. Apologists for scumbags will say, "oh, its XYZ " fault, not my fault, I couldn't help it. Articles like the Indy one give the scumbags an excuse to sieze on, and there will be those who know nothing of the working classes who will also think, thats a convenient excuse for doing nothing. And the nightmare goes on....

 

We cannot have the manufacturing base that we used to have, because everything is made cheaper in China. Unfortunate but true. That does not give the scumbags an excuse. There is plenty of work for them,say in hospitals, plumbing, electricians , painters/decorators, all sorts of work that is well paid. Then they come up with more stupid excuses "oh the immigrants take all the jobs"boll**ks

 

But the truth is that the scumbags are lazy idle good for nothing idiots who get easy money for selling drugs and doing f*** all else but make a nuisance of themselves. They have chosen the easy scrounging option because they are greedy and lazy with no work ethic whatsoever.

 

The middle classes are also to blame. Try building the extra prisons that are desparately needed and they will scream "not in my backyard, think of houseprices" So, we have no deterrents and no fear of authority, so the madness goes on and on, we get more and more laws that no-one can enforce and the suffering continues.

 

The Thatcher years are a definite factor though mate, no question about it.. There was pretty much no such thing as "dole culture" before she came in and made over 3 million unemployed, there's no getting round that fact... She ripped the guts out the working classes, made whole generations aspire to little or nothing, treated the poor like scum, so scum they became.. Of course there's a personal responsibility factor to this as well, but it's just not as simple as saying one thing or another, it's little bit of both in reality. And parental responsibility has to be brought to bear as well, parents who claim that they cant control what their offspring do are just making excuses - shop the little b/astards to the cops if you have to, have them taken into care, do whatever it takes to deal with them... Of course, it might actually help if parents and the Police could give the little scumbags the thick ears and cloutings they deserve as well..... <_<

It's scary just at how dangerous England has become, I mean, like Craig said, It's just so easy to get a gun or drugs, no matter what age you are. But will anything happen? No. Will whoever done it get brought down? No. If he gets caught, I can tell you now he'll only get a couple of years in prison.

 

If he's convicted of murder he will serve a good deal more than a couple years. And the conviction rate for murder is very high so he's unlikely to get away with it.

 

And just to add a bit of perspective, the number of people shot dead in this country is - thankfully - very low and has been more or less unchanged for many years.

 

The most disturbing thing about this case is the reluctance of potential witnesses to come forward.