Family grieve for 16-year-old student who was shot in the back
THE family of a "polite" 16-year-old engineering student last night spoke of their horror after he was shot dead in the back while fleeing a suspected armed gangster.
The family of Lewis Dunne have spoken of their horror
Keen angler Lewis Dunne was found dying by two passersby with a fatal gunshot wound near a canal towpath in Eldonian Village, Liverpool.
Residents claim that spot was where two local gangs had arrived on quad-bikes for an arranged turf warfare fight around 11pm on Sunday night.
Now - as police divers searched the canal for a weapon - it is feared Lewis was "in the wrong place at the wrong time".
Police say that Lewis Dunne may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time
No mother or father expects to bury their child at the age of 16 years
Last night his heartbroken aunt Hayley Whitfield, 23, told how Lewis' grandmother, Kathleen, 58, had rung late on Sunday night to break the news, adding: "Mum phoned and said 'Lewis has been found unconscious. He is in the back of an ambulance.' She was crying.
"I went to the hospital. It was horrendous. He lives just a few minutes walk from the canal. I can't bear to go there yet."
Hayley, who hopes to be a primary school teacher, said her nephew had never been in any trouble.
Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Ian Pilling said the killer was still at large and anyone with any information about the "tragic fatal shooting" should "search their conscience" and come forward.
He continued: "No mother or father expects to bury their child at the age of 16 years.
He said the two people who found Lewis at 11.20pm had made "brave efforts" to help him until the ambulance arrived but he died at the city's University Hospital .
Police search the canal where Lewis Dunne's body was found
His family - including his father Steven, mother Gemma, 37, and sister Yasmin, 17 - were yesterday(Mon) being comforted by relatives at the family terraced home.
Lewis Dunne was fishing by the canal
Last night tributes were paid to Lewis, who was understood to have been a former pupil at Alsop High in Walton.
Friend Adam Whittaker posted a photo of the 16-year-old on Facebook with the emotional message: "Just can't come to terms with what happened last night! Nobody knows what to say.
The killer is still at large and the police urge anyone with information to come forward
You had a heart of gold and a smile that couldn't compare to anybody else."
Lewis is the third teenager to be gunned down in the city this year.