The mother of 11-year-old Rhys Jones cradled her dying son in her arms after he was shot on the streets of Liverpool last night by a youth who rode past on a BMX bike.

Rhys, an Everton fan, had just finished football training and was kicking a ball around with friends in the car park of the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth, when he was gunned down.

Merseyside police has launched one of its biggest murder investigations, drafting in 300 police officers to catch those involved in the killing that has shocked a community hardened to gun crime in recent years. Two youths aged 14 and 18 were questioned after being arrested on suspicion of murder but were later released on police bail.

Detectives have appealed to the criminal community to “examine their conscience” and help.

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, was hosting a pre-arranged Downing Street summit on youth disorder and gangs today and said that the murder was a “heinous crime that shocked the whole of the country".

“The people responsible will be tracked down, arrested and punished," he said.

Tony Edge, a friend of the Jones family, told how he broke the devastating news to Rhys’ mother Melanie and then drove her to the scene of the shooting.

“She went to him, knelt down, held him and spoke to him,” he said.

“I was there before the ambulance crews got there and it was absolutely horrific. There was another little lad from the footy team who saw it.

“He was upset and I was trying to get him to stop looking at Rhys. Rhys’ mum was with him and they waited for the ambulance - it seemed to take for ever to turn up.

“I don’t know what she was saying to him because I walked away from it."

The gunman, his face covered by a hood, rode past the public house and fired three shots. It has been reported that the killer calmly held the gun with two hands and took aim from 30 yards away.

One of the bullets hit Rhys in the neck, one hit a car and another missed.

Rhys has been described as a “responsible lad” who was not involved in gangs or crime. He was taken to hospital but could not be saved.

He lived nearby with his parents and 17-year-old brother. Mr Edge, a children’s football coach, had received a call from another coach who told him Rhys had been shot.

He said he drove to collect Melanie, who works for Tesco, and rushed to the scene outside the Fir Tree pub.

“Melanie grabbed her keys and came in the car with me and we raced to the car park.”

Mr Edge a Liverpool City Council worker, said he usually gave Rhys a lift home from weekly training, but because he arrived home late from work last night he did not attend practice and Rhys walked home.

He said: “I am just in shock; we haven’t really slept. Rhys was a great little player, a midfielder and he also played forward. I just can’t get my head around it; he was only walking home from training. His mum and dad would come and watch him play football and his mum would give him £10 every time he scored so he always wanted to play up front.

“He was a very good footballer, he was a lovely kid and funny.”

Mr Edge said there was an issue between two gangs in Croxteth but he claimed Rhys had absolutely nothing to do with them.

He said: “You can’t mention Rhys in the same breath as gang culture. Rhys and his friends even stayed away from local teenagers because they scared them. He has been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne, said it was a shocking incident.

“In the past we have often come up against a wall of silence but enough is enough and the shooting of an 11-year-old boy demands that the community should come together. No parent should have to suffer what the parents of this child are going through tonight and I would appeal to any parents, children or other members of the community who can help us to find those responsible to ring us immediately.

“I would also like to appeal to members of the criminal community to examine their consciences. An innocent young boy who had his life ahead of him died this evening whilst he was playing a simple game of football with his friends.

"His family have been torn apart and now justice needs to be done. Members of the criminal fraternity could have the key to this and we would appeal to them to come foward.”

Around 100 officers have been placed on the investigation supported by 200 existing Matrix staff - a gun crime unit set up two years ago to tackle the growing problem in the area.

Rhys was found slumped in the pub car park and was taken to Alder Hey Hospital with serious gunshot wounds. Paramedics were still treating him when he arrived at the hospital but were unable to save him.

Rhys’s head teacher Elaine Spencer, of Broad Square Primary School said Rhys was “a really lovely boy” who was popular with everybody who knew him.

“He was also very bright and had just done very well in his SATs. He had a wonderful future ahead of him and it is absolutely terrible that it seems his life has been cut short because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The Fir Tree pub was today surrounded by police tape, as was a neighbouring parade of shops and a large car park.

The Croxteth Park Estate was formerly the biggest private housing estate in Western Europe.

It was built in the mid 1980s and comprises bungalows, detached and semi-detached houses.

Many residents on the estate spoke about living increasingly in the shadow of gun crime. The Merseyside police gun crime unit, Matrix, was set up two years ago to tackle the problem.

One woman said: “Matrix are always here raiding houses and making seizures. But no matter how many times they come they can’t seem to keep track of all the guns.

“The kids pass the guns around each other as if they were football collector cards. “There is no mystique about guns, there’s no fear, they are just a status symbol. And now it seems anyone who wants one can get hold of one.”

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.

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