Schoolboy Rhys Jones was killed as a result of �fierce and frequently violent rivalry� between two gangs, a court heard yesterday.
Schoolboy Rhys Jones was killed as a result of "fierce and frequently violent rivalry" between two gangs, a court heard yesterday.
The innocent 11-year-old was shot dead when he wandered into the line of fire as teenager Sean Mercer fired three shots from a revolver across a pub car park, Liverpool Crown Court was told.
Mr Mercer, 18, denies murdering Rhys in the car park of the Fir Tree pub, Croxteth Park, Liverpool, in August last year.
During yesterday's opening speech by prosecutor Neil Flewitt QC, a gasp was heard from the jury as CCTV footage showed the moment Rhys was struck by the bullet and fell to the ground.
Seconds before the short video clip was played, Rhys's mother, Melanie Jones, 42, fled the court in tears as the prosecution began to outline her son's final moments.
Her husband, Stephen Jones, 45, wore a purple ribbon - the symbol of an anti-gun campaign launched in Liverpool in memory of Rhys.
The QC told the jury the shooting was the result of "fierce and frequently violent rivalry" between young gang members from Croxteth's Crocky Crew and nearby Norris Green's Strand Gang, also known as the Nogga Dogs.
He said: "At almost exactly the same time as Rhys Jones walked on to the car park, a hooded gunman on a bicycle approached the scene from the rear of the Fir Tree pub and took up a position on the grass in front of the fence running alongside the path on the far side of the car park.
"The gunman fired a total of three shots across the car park. One of those shots hit Rhys Jones in the neck and killed him. It is the prosecution case that the defendant, Sean Mercer, was the person who fired that fatal shot and that he is, therefore, guilty of the offence of murder."
Mr Flewitt said Mercer, who fired a Smith & Wesson revolver, had not intended to shoot Rhys.
He indicated that the prosecution case was that he was the innocent victim of a feud between gangs operating in and around the area of the Fir Tree public house.
The prosecution allege that Mr Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, was helped to avoid justice by six members of the Crocky Crew.
James Yates, 20, Melvin Coy, 25, and Gary Kays, 25, as well as two 17-year-old boys and a 16-year old boy, who are too young to be named, all deny assisting an offender.
Mr Flewitt said there had been more than 70 incidents involving the two gangs, including shootings.
He said Mr Mercer was firing at three members of the Strand Gang that fateful night.
CCTV footage of the gunman stopping on his bike, firing, then riding off was played to the court. The first shot went through the windows of a BMW before hitting a metal container.
The second bullet hit Rhys and the third bullet impacted on a wall - which on CCTV footage threw up a puff of dust.
The killer was then filmed cycling away from the pub.
Recalling the moments after Rhys's shooting, Mr Flewitt said Mrs Jones was by his side as he went into cardiac arrest.
The prosecution claimed Mr Mercer went to the pub with the gun because Wayne Brady, 20, a member of the Strand Gang was present with two others. Mr Flweitt maintained there was more personal animosity between the two rival gang members.
Shortly after the shooting, the prosecution say, Mr Mercer gave a friend a red and white bag containing the murder weapon.
Police found the murder weapon at the youth's house on September 30 last year but decided to offer him immunity from prosecution providing he gave a truthful account of the circumstances surrounding Rhys's murder.
Mr Flewitt said: "He has accepted those terms and has entered into an Immunity Agreement with the Crown Prosecution Service."
The trial resumes today.
