Suspect in killing of 11-year-old released

British police released suspect arrested over the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy.

Photo: Suspect in killing of 11-year-old released

Rhys Jones was shot in the neck Aug. 22 as he returned home from playing soccer in Liverpool, northwest England, and police believe he may have been the unintended victim of gang warfare.

A 15-year-old suspect, who was arrested Wednesday, was released on bail, police said. A total of 11 people, most of them teens, have been arrested over the fatal shooting. All have been released on bail or freed without charge.

New searches took place Thursday outside the Fir Tree pub, in the Croxteth district of Liverpool, where detectives believe a youngster riding a bicycle gunned down the 11-year-old as he walked home.

In an interview with the Liverpool Echo newspaper, Melanie and Stephen Jones said they were struggling to come to terms with the loss of their child.

"We know there are massive hurdles, emotionally, to overcome," the boy's mother told the newspaper.

The newspaper printed a poem the boy's father wrote in which he imagines his son playing soccer in heaven with deceased stars of the game.

"I go and sit in Rhys's room and on his bed. I go and draw the curtains and put the light on every night," Stephen Jones told the newspaper.

The boy's family said they plan to attend a vigil this weekend in Liverpool, when they will make a new appeal for those with information about his death to contact police.