Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones was the innocent victim of a gangland feud that ended with his murder as he walked home from football training, a court heard today.
Rhys (11) was hit in the neck by one of three bullets fired across a car park by 18-year-old Sean Mercer, prosecutors said at the opening of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Mr Mercer, who denies murder, immediately set about getting rid of his clothing, his bicycle and the murder weapon, said prosecutor Neil Flewitt in court.
The shooting of the keen Everton supporter at the back of the Fir Tree Pub in Croxteth in August last year shocked Liverpool and heightened concerns about gang crime across the country.
Both Everton and Liverpool football clubs held tributes for the murdered schoolboy, while hundreds lined the streets for his funeral at Liverpool's Anglican cathedral.
The boy's mother Melanie left the court in tears after a brief CCTV clip was shown of the moment her son was killed.
It showed Rhys crossing the pub car park and being distracted by the sound of a bullet striking a container nearby.
He was then seen turning to look in the direction of the container and being struck by the second bullet, falling to the ground where he later died in his mother's arms.
Mr Flewitt said the shooting was the result of a violent rivalry between Croxteth's Crocky Crew, which counted Mr Mercer among its members, and nearby Norris Green's Strand Gang.
"It is the prosecution case that (Rhys) was the innocent victim of a long-running feud between rival gangs operating in and around the area of the Fir Tree public house," he said.
He said Mr Mercer, armed with a Smith & Wesson .455 revolver, had not intended to shoot the boy and was firing at three members of the Strand Gang.
The prosecution says Mr Mercer was helped after the shooting by by six other Crocky Crew members.
James Yates (20) Melvin Coy and Gary Kays, both 25, two 17-year-old boys and a 16-year old boy all deny assisting an offender.