UK:Police in Liverpool last night released on bail two teenagers they had been questioning in connection with the killing of an 11-year-old boy shot on his way home from football training.
The two males, aged 14 and 18, were arrested following the death of Rhys Jones, who was shot in the neck by a youth who rode past him on a BMX bike in Croxteth Park, a housing estate in the suburbs of north Liverpool.
The 11-year-old is believed to be one of Britain's youngest-ever victims of gun crime. His death came just hours after Tory leader David Cameron warned that the country was facing a "real and growing problem" of violence and antisocial behaviour.
Merseyside Police has allocated 100 officers to the investigation and it is expected more arrests will be made in the next days. Detectives will be assisted by the Merseyside Police Matrix team, set up to tackle the problem of gun crime in the city two years ago.
Last night the parents of Rhys gave an emotional TV interview in which they appealed for information about their son's killing. They said they knew all his friends, he was not part of a gang and did not hang around with people older than himself.
Describing the investigation as "protracted and complicated", Chief Constable Bernard Hogan Howe said it was too soon to speculate over why the shooting occurred: "What we do know is that somebody is in possession of a gun. We must find that person, we must find the weapon and we must find the person who gave them that weapon." He said Rhys and his family were "innocent people going about their business" who had been caught up in a "terrible and shocking crime. It is terrible for them and terrible for the local community".
Urging anyone with information to come forward, he said: "If they are worried or fearful they should think that next time it could be their son, brother or loved one.
"There have been two arrests in this case, but that doesn't prove anything. The principal thing I need to get over to the public is we need your help, and we are not yet at all certain as to who committed this crime."
Rhys was walking home from football training with two friends when he was shot outside the Fir Tree pub at around 7.30pm on Wednesday night.
Witnesses said the attacker, believed to be hooded, fired three shots. A car parked nearby was also hit. The semi-detached house Rhys shared with his parents and 17-year-old brother is just a few streets away from where he was gunned down.
The area remained sealed off last night as forensic teams combed the scene of the killing. A single white tent stood at the spot where the boy was shot.
Tony Edge, a friend of the Jones family, told reporters how Rhys's mother, Melanie, had cradled her dying son in her arms as they waited for an ambulance.
Mr Edge had broken the news to the boy's mother before driving her to the scene of the shooting. "She went to him, knelt down, held him and spoke to him," said Mr Edge. "I don't know what she was saying to him because I walked away from it."
Rhys was later pronounced dead at Alder Hey Hospital.
He was due to start secondary school in September, having finished attending the local Broad Square primary school in July.
In a statement, head teacher Elaine Spencer said pupils and teachers at the school were shocked by the killing. "Rhys was a really lovely boy who was extremely popular with everyone who knew him. He was friendly, outgoing and mad about football," she said.
Prime minister Gordon Brown described the killing as a "heinous crime that shocked the whole of the country", and extended his sympathy to the dead boy's family.
Speaking at Downing Street following a pre-arranged meeting on youth violence and antisocial behaviour, Mr Brown added: "The people responsible will be tracked down, arrested and punished." The killing has raised fears of a growing gun culture, particularly among teenage gangs in some of Liverpool's most disadvantaged areas.
The 200-strong Merseyside Police Matrix team issues an average of three warrants a week and has seized some 50 weapons in the past year.