Hunt for 'good guy' Rhys's killer
Updated on 24 August 2007
Police issue a description of the teenage suspect they are looking for in connection with the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones.
The suspect is a slim white boy, aged 13-15. He was was riding a black BMX bicycle and wearing a dark hooded top and white trainers when the shooting happened.
Rhys was shot in the back of his neck as he played football with friends on outside the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth, Liverpool, at around 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Police had arrested a 14-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man on suspicion of murder, but released them on bail last night.
At an emotional press conference yesterday Rhys's mother, Melanie Jones, described how she had found Rhys in the pub car park but had been unable to get any response from him as she waited for the ambulance.
'We are devastated. We have lost our world. The world has lost a good guy.'Stephen Jones, father of Rhys Jones
"They put him in an ambulance," she said. "They tried for an hour and a half to resuscitate him but his little body could not take it. He had just lost too much blood."
Rhys's father, Stephen Jones, a Tesco retail manager, said: "We are devastated. We have lost our world. The world has lost a good guy."
He went on to describe his bewilderment at his son's killing. "I then go to his room where he should be, he should be asleep, open his wardrobe, his school uniform that we have bought for senior school. His pens and pencils are there, unopened. His calculator is there, unopened. His shoes are still in the box, his trainers are still in the box."
"It's just horrific. Your worst nightmare."
