The PSNI has appealed for public assistance in tracking down the killers of a 15-year-old schoolboy who was stabbed to death in north Belfast late on Wednesday night. Three males were being questioned about his killing last night.
Thomas Devlin Somerton Road, died after he was stabbed at least five times in the back. An 18-year-old friend was also stabbed in the attack, although his wounds are understood not to be serious. Another boy managed to escape, shocked but uninjured.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly said the killing of Thomas Devlin, a Catholic, bore "all the hallmarks of a sectarian attack" and warned people to be extremely vigilant. He said the boys were not robbed and, while he did not want to "emphasise" the issue, he believed the motivation for the killing was sectarian.
The PSNI however said no motivation for the murder was established and that "currently" it appeared to have been a "random" stabbing. Senior investigating officer Det Supt Colin Sturgeon said police were following a number of lines of inquiry.
Three males, one of them a juvenile, whom local sources said were arrested in loyalist areas of north Belfast, were being questioned last night about the killing. So far no one has been charged with the murder.
Thomas Devlin, a student at Belfast Royal Academy grammar school, was returning along Somerton Road with two friends after buying soft drinks and sweets in a nearby garage around 11.30pm on Wednesday when he was attacked.
Supt Sturgeon said two men, who were walking a dog, were involved. "These are the murderers of a 15-year-old boy. There were words spoken, but nothing to indicate a sectarian motive. It horrifies me because this attack was totally random in nature."
He said it was not certain whether a knife or some other weapon or tool was used to attack Thomas Devlin. He asked for public assistance in finding the murder weapon and in apprehending the killers.
The boy's parents, Jim Devlin and Penny Holloway, said they were devastated by the killing. "One thing I am anxious to say is I think it is incumbent on all elected representatives to urge people to go directly to the police if they have information about what happened," said Ms Holloway.
Mr Kelly said witnesses should use whatever information they had to help ensure the killers were convicted in a court.
North Belfast DUP MP Nigel Dodds said the murder "was sickening and despicable".
SDLP deputy mayor of Belfast Pat Convery called upon everyone in the local community to help police catch the killers.
