Cities can unite to beat scourge

Aug 24 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

THE tragic shooting of 11-year- old Rhys Jones in a pub car park at Croxteth Park has united the country in grief and shock.

Everyone, from Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, to countless unnamed Croxteth Park residents and ordinary members of the public, has spoken out in condemnation of the crime and to extend their sympathy to Rhys’s family.

The most touching and heartbreaking tributes of all have come from Rhys’s parents, Melanie and Stephen, who last night braved the cameras to speak of their devastation and loss, and the many friends of the football-mad youngster.

As Mr Jones says, the words "wrong time, wrong place" are no excuse for what happened. There shouldn’t be any time or place where an 11-year-old boy is gunned down in cold blood as he walks the short distance home from where he was playing football on a balmy summer evening.

However, it has demonstrated that gun crime is now no longer confined to the traditional inner-city mean streets, but to outwardly peaceful residential areas like the Croxteth Park estate. This should be a cause of great concern for everyone.

With the wounds still so fresh, and the perpetrator of this terrible crime still at large, it is perhaps too early to start speculating on why Rhys Jones lost his life in this cruel way, and what can be done to prevent such a tragedy happening again.

However, the suggestion by Liverpool council leader Warren Bradley that there should be a "summit" of representatives of all major cities to be held with the Home Secretary to discuss ways of tackling gun crime, is a welcome one.

Difficult issues such as the role of the police, parental responsibility, gang culture, and access to illegal firearms are all matters that will be strenuously discussed and debated in the weeks ahead. But law-abiding citizens will only be reassured if it results in some positive action being taken to make our communities safer.