Teenage boy dies after found injured on canal towpath

Police have appealed for information after 16-year-old Lewis Dunne was shot dead in Liverpool.

Lewis was found suffering from a serious gunshot wound to his back after being blasted on a canal towpath in Eldonian Village, in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool, short l y before 11.20pm last night.

He was taken to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, where he died a short time later.

Assistant Chief Constable Ian Pilling of Merseyside Police said: “No mother or father expects to bury their child at the age of 16 years.

“It is difficult to imagine what Lewis’s mother and father are going through at this moment in time.

“I believe someone, somewhere, knows who has done this, and would ask them to search their conscience and do the right thing.

“Your information could help us make significant progress in this inquiry.”

Mr Pilling, describing the incident as a “tragic fatal shooting”, said officers were called by paramedics after Lewis was found and given first aid by members of the public on the path, running alongside the Leeds Liverpool canal, around half amile north of the city centre.

Lewis, who lived locally, though not in Eldonian Village, was rushed to hospital but doctors were unable to save his life.

Mr Pilling said the area has now been cordoned off with police underwater search teams in the canal water, high-visibility patrols in the area and detectives now retrieving CCTV film of the surrounding area to trace the offender.

But he appealed for the public’s help to come forward if they have information of help to police.

Mr Pilling continued: “There is no place for firearms. We need members of the public to come forward with information so we can keep our streets safe.”

He urged anyone who may have witnessed the incident orwhosawanything suspicious to come forward.

Mr Pilling would not be drawn on local reports a pre-arranged gang fight, widelyknownasa“straightener” in Liverpool, was behind the fatal shooting.

Nor would he give further information on whether Lewis was shot more than once or possibly fatally blasted in the back as he ran away from his attacker.

A post mortem is still yet to take place to establish the cause of death.

“Someone, somewhere, knows who has done this”

HUNT FOR CLUES: Forensic teams examine the scene where Lewis Dunne was found with a serious gunshot wound to his back last night