Six held in connection with Rhys Jones killing
Six suspects are in custody tonight being questioned by detectives hunting the killer of Rhys Jones.
The six - all teenagers, including two girls - are among 10 suspects arrested by Merseyside Police in connection with the shooting of the 11-year-old last Wednesday night.
Rhys died in the arms of his mother Melanie, 41, after being ambushed by a teenage gunman on a BMX.
The Everton fan was shot through the neck by a bullet that has not yet been recovered.
The killing sparked a political row about gun culture with Home Secretary Jacqui Smith declaring that the Government's priority in the wake of the killing of the schoolboy was to get firearms off the streets.
She said that officials were working with police on a series of measures to encourage people to report or hand in illegally held weapons.
People who knew where firearms were hidden or were holding them for a relative or friend needed to be able to come forward anonymously without fear or reprisals or arrest, she said
But the proposals were greeted with scorn by shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert who said that ministers had failed to address the scale of the problem.
"It's a feeble response. I think the Government, frankly, seem paralysed in the wake of this real concern in the country about the increase in violence and in particular the increase in knife crime and gun crime," he said.
Today officers confirmed a potentially key witness - a woman pushing a pram at the murder scene five minutes before the shooting - had been traced and is helping police with the investigation.
But Croxteth Park resident Emma Ahmed, 33, said Rhys's murder would not have happened if police had made good a plan to site a mobile police station on the Fir Tree pub car park - where Rhys was killed.
Mrs Ahmed, a solicitor who sits on the committee of the Croxteth Country Park Residents' Association, said: "We have been working for the last year to improve the estate.
"We were promised a mobile pod, a mobile police station, and it should have been here in April and would have been stationed on the car park where Rhys died but police said they didn't have the resources.
"There is no doubt in my mind he wouldn't have died if that had been there."
The force did not respond to questions about the allegation.
Rhys's brother today made his first visit to the huge floral shrine marking the tragic crime scene.
Owen Jones, flanked by four friends, delivered a large bouquet and remained to pay his respects for several minutes.
The 17-year-old also delivered an Everton rug bearing the motto "The People's Club".
Placing it on the ground, he paused to look over the hundreds of bunches of flowers.
Owen, who was composed throughout his visit, was escorted with his friends back through the cordon by police officers.
Four days on since the killing residents continued to pay their last respects at the scene.
A vicar at the centre of the community held two services offered for Rhys's family.
During his sermon the Rev Dr David Leslie said society needed to rebuild itself in the light of the murder.
He said: "In the last few days our estate has been turned upside down - we just can't get our minds around what has happened.
"It seems as if we have slipped into some bizarre parallel universe where basic rules about human beings connecting with one another have been suspended.
"What can we say or do? It has happened and we feel so powerless."
This afternoon, police handed out leaflets and appealed for information from shoppers at a Tesco store where Mrs Jones works.
