An 11-year-old boy became the latest victim of Britain’s gun epidemic last night when he was shot dead as he kicked around a football in a Liverpool pub car park.

In a killing that had all the hallmarks of gang violence, witnesses reported that a hooded teenager rode past on a BMX as he fired a volley of shots at the boy and his two friends.

The victim, named locally last night as Reece Jones and described by pub patrons as a “nice lad”, died in hospital after suffering serious gun shot wounds.

He was believed to be returning home from a youth league match when the attack occurred in the neighbourhood where the footballer Wayne Rooney grew up.

After firing a volley of three shots, the assailant was said to have cycled away from the scene at the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth in a calm manner.

There was some doubt last night about the type of weapon used although a handgun, rather than an airgun, was suspected.

The shooting is the latest to blight Britain and follows a series of knife and gun attacks carried out by youths this year.

Police have expressed serious concerns about the rocketing levels of violence — particularly in the capital — and report that increasingly younger children are walking the streets with dangerous weapons. In what has been a particularly grim year, 17 teenagers have been shot or stabbed to death in London alone in 2007.

With much of the violence related to gang issues, scores more teenagers have been injured in skirmishes. In February the country was shocked by a wave of violence in South London, where three teenagers were shot dead in a matter of days. One was believed to have been a case of mistaken identity.

Among other deaths this year, a 12-year-old girl was shot dead in May in her home in Gorton, Manchester, in what was believed to be a tragic accident. Adding to the catalogue of violence, three teenagers were killed in a further series of knife and gun attacks in June.

As the number of youth deaths soar, politicians and police have been grappling with how to solve the problem.

The latest death came only hours after David Cameron, the Tory leader, gave warning that the country was facing a “real and growing problem” of violence and antisocial behaviour.

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