LONDON // A teenager was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering Rhys Jones, an 11-year-old schoolboy whose death shocked the nation when he was caught in the crossfire of a gangland shooting. Rhys was hit in the neck by one of three bullets fired across a Liverpool pub car park by 18-year-old Sean Mercer who had been aiming at members of a rival gang. The shooting of the keen Everton supporter at the back of the Fir Tree Pub in Croxteth in August last year shocked the local community and heightened concerns about gang crime across the country.
Neil Flewitt, prosecuting, said the shooting was the result of a violent rivalry between Croxteth's Crocky Crew, which counted Mercer among its members, and nearby Norris Green's Strand Gang. Liverpool Crown Court heard that immediately after the shooting, Mercer set about getting rid of his clothing, his bicycle and the murder weapon, with the help of six other Crocky Crew members. *Reuters
