Prominent civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has called on the people concealing the identities of Rhys Jones’s killer to come forward.
The 11-year-old boy was shot dead by a hoodie-wearing teenager on a BMX bike in the Croxteth area of Merseyside last week.Rev Jackson, who is in Manchester on the latest leg of his UK tour, said that those who had not gone to the police with details on the killer were “conspirators to murder”, reports the BBC.
“Violence begets violence, and hope begets hope,” he said.
Rev Jackson gave a message of hope to the UK, however, saying that it was still possible to stop the tide of gun crime here.
"We must work diligently to stop gun violence in this country. The numbers are still small enough to stop it here.
"We have reached out and shown a heartfelt sympathy for a simply awful murder - also, the killer of Jessie James in Manchester has not been found either.
"Those who collaborate to protect killers are conspirators; they have a moral obligation to tell us the names.
"Those killers will do it again unless they are caught - nobody has a moral obligation to protect those killers."
Rev Doctor David Leslie is vicar of St Cuthbert’s Church, near the scene of Rhys’s murder.
He said that parish churches across Liverpool had been praying for Rhys, whose death had come as a “terrible shock” to the community, according to the BBC.
"We'll pray for Rhys of course, and we'll be thinking very much of his mum and dad, and all those close to them,” he said.
"I think everybody is absolutely devastated by what has happened. It's been a terrible shock and in some ways it seems almost unreal.
"It's very, very hard to come to terms with."
