SEVEN people, including two girls, were last night being heldoverthekillingof 11-year-old Rhys Jones. Five were arrested in raids yesterdayaroundtheCroxteth area of Liverpool, wheretheschoolboy was shot on Wednesday.

Police were granted an extension to detain the sixth, a boy of 15, who was arrested on Friday.

Theyarresteda seventh teenager last night. The 19-year-old man from the local area is being questioned by detectives on suspicion of murder.

This takes the total of people in custodylastnighttoseven.Nine have been arrested in total, with two currently on bail.

Apart from the last arrest, the people taken into custody yesterday were boys aged 15 and 16, a man aged 19 and girls of 15 and 18. The 19-year-old needed hospital treatment after falling from the back window of his home apparently trying to escape arrest.

Rhys was killed by a teenager on a BMX bike who sprayed bullets from a handgun as the young football fan walked home with friends across a pub car park.

Two bullets smashed into a car but a third hit Rhys in the back of his neck. He died as his mother, who ran to the scene from their home nearby, held him in her arms.

Yesterday as police searched the area, between two locations notorious for teenage gangs, one senior officer said it was time for the community to "stand up and be counted".

Chief Superintendent Chris Armitt said residents must examine their consciences and take a stand against the killer and gang culture. He said: "I understand people are concerned about giving information to the police, that is natural.

"But they have got to stand up and be counted.Wehavewaystoprotect membersofthepublicwhocome forward, we can protect their identities if they go before a court."

He said those who might know the killer's identity "must look to themselves and examine their conscience and if somethingelsehappensthink,IfI hadn't given that information as quickly as possible can I live with myself?'"

And he added that he wanted potential witnesses to take courage from the recent inquest into the death of Jessie James, 15, which was halted when new witnesses came forward in the year-old Manchester murder investigation.

Armittsaid:"Weneedtoturn statementsintoevidence,wewill protect people's identities and we will convict the killers."

Police are seeking one key witness in particular, a woman who was pushing a pram near the scene five minutes before the shooting happened and may have passed within "close proximity" to the killer.

Meanwhile, Rhys's mother Melanie, 41, and father Stephen, 44, joined an emotional crowd at Everton's Goodison Parkinthecityholdingaminute's applausefortheirson,whowasa devoted supporter.

Players from Everton and opponentsBlackburn wore black armbands.