Family Appeal For Help To Catch Killers Of Toxteth teenager

Heartbroken loved ones of an 18-year-old murdered in Liverpool have begged for help to catch his killers amid a spate of recent murders in the city.

Yusuf Sonko died in a hail of bullets as he was stood with a group of friends on Tagus Street in Toxteth.

The talented A-level student was just days away from sitting his final exam and hoped to go on to university to study business.

Two males, aged 17 and 21, have been questioned on suspicion of murder and released pending further investigation into the killing, which happened at around 8.30pm on June 2.

His mother Kajdijah Sonko, 44, who works for a homeless charity, told how she rushed to the hospital bedside after her son was shot.

She said:

"Yusuf is not going to come back but someone is walking around who killed my son.''

"I held his hand. I kissed him. I said 'who did that to you, Yusuf?'

"That person took a family's life away. He was a humble boy, and now he has gone just like that.

"Yusuf had a nice home, a nice family. I worked hard to raise my son for this time.

"And at the time Yusuf was enjoying his life somebody took him away.

"Please, please - somebody must come out to say what happened and why.

"It is killing me and that is not fair, not fair on Yusuf or me.''

"Yusuf is not going to come back but someone is walking around who killed my son.''

Both Yusuf's parents moved from France and Senegal to live in the UK and Yusuf had an older brother and sister and younger brother.

His taxi-driver father, Papa Sonko, 66, added: "He was a boy who loved life.

"As a young man he loved to go out. I trusted him because I knew he was not a boy who was up to mischief.''

Detectives believe Yusuf was shot as part of a dispute between rival groups of males in and around the Lodge Lane area.

But he is thought to have only emerged, at worst, on the periphery of one of those groups in the weeks before the attack.

Mr Sonko said:

"All I know is the person who killed my boy should have the decency to present himself to the police.

"That for me is the end of the road. Forgiveness is at the end of the road.''

A community anti-gun crime march is planned in Toxteth on Saturday.

Police on Merseyside are already dealing with two recent murder inquiries, but have not linked any of the crimes.

The battered body of Joseph McKeever, 54, was found inside a burnt-out car in Everton, Liverpool, on June 15 after firefighters put out the blaze.

He had also suffered a severe head injury.

Three days later Paul Millea, 36, from the Garston area of Liverpool, was stabbed to death.

A 25-year-old man from the West Derby area has been arrested on suspicion of the murder.

Anyone with information over Yusuf's death is asked to call Merseyside Police's gun crime hotline on 0800 230 0600 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111