The gunman who murdered Rhys Jones may have been trying to shoot members of a rival gang who had strayed into “enemy territory”, it emerged last night.

Detectives are investigating whether the intended victims of last week’s fatal shooting in Liverpool were three gang members from the Norris Green area of the city. One of their close associates has told The Times that the trio were standing near a row of shops at the side of the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth Park when the hooded killer rode up on a BMX bike.

The gunman, said to be a member of a gang called the Croxteth Young Guns, fired three shots across the car park in their direction. Rhys, 11, who was walking through the car park on his way home from football practice, died after accidentally walking into the line of fire and being hit in the neck by one of the bullets.

One of the three Norris Green youths, all members of a gang known locally as the Nogga Dogs, is said to be the ex-boyfriend of an 18-year-old girl who was arrested on Saturday in connection with Rhys’s murder. She was later released without charge and is no longer being treated as a suspect.

The girl, who cannot be named, is thought to have arrived in a car less than a minute after Rhys was shot. The gang associate said: “The Crocky [Croxteth] kid was after the Nogsy [Norris Green] lads. He had a little look around, then let three [shots] off. [The shooting of] Rhys was an accident. The gun was a piece of ****ing s***” that didn’t even fire straight.”

As the investigation entered its sixth day, the search for evidence widened to include a small section of woodland on the edge of Croxteth Park, a short walk from the murder scene.

Police, acting on information received from the public, were believed to be searching for the murder weapon, which was dark and long-barrelled. Officers in black uniforms and armed with long wooden staves scoured the undergrowth, known as Dam Wood, alongside the force’s eight tracker dogs.

Chief Inspector Ray Beirne, leading the hunt, said that the search would last “as long as it takes”. Police will be stopping all motorists driving past the murder scene at about 7.30pm tonight, exactly a week after the shooting.

There were emotional scenes at Anfield before Liverpool’s Champions League qualifier against Toulouse last night, when the Kop paid an extraordinary tribute to the murdered boy, a life-long Everton fan.

Fans applauded as Johnny Todd, the theme tune to the 1960s police series Z Cars, which traditionally heralds the arrival of the Everton team at Goodison Park, was played to the crowd before Liverpool’s own anthem, You’ll Never walk Alone.

Rhys’s Everton-supporting parents, Melanie Jones, 41, a supermarket manager, and her husband Stephen, 44, had been invited to attend. Rafael Benitez, Liverpool’s manager, walked along the touchline before kick-off to hug Mrs Jones and shake the hand of her husband and son, Owen, 17, all of whom were dressed in Everton colours.

The 45,000-strong crowd gave the family a standing ovation instead of the traditional minute’s silence.

The home team, who went on to win the match 4-0, wore black armbands in a further tribute to the aspiring footballer.

The decision to play Johnny Todd was taken after a suggestion in the Liverpool Echo newspaper received massive public support.

Neil Jones, Rhys’s uncle, said: “When I told them about the proposed tribute at Anfield, Melanie said playing Johnny Todd at Anfield would be a unique event, a complete one-off, just like Rhys and a fitting tribute to him as it was his favourite tune.

“Melanie is also pretty sure he’ll have a little mischievous grin on his face at the thought of being the cause of it.”

Criticism of the inquiry came from Keith Doyle, 49, the leaseholder of the Fir Tree pub, who alerted the emergency services after the shooting. He complained that police officers had still not interviewed him about the shooting. He has handed over grainy closed-circuit television footage.

Karl Barry, an independent licensing consultant speaking on the publican’s behalf, said: “It is not necessarily about what he wants to say to police but what they may want to ask him. He may have something salient with regards to the case. He watched the poor boy die.”

Police have said that they are receiving a steady stream of calls from the public.

One of Rhys’s best friends, Michael Edge, 11, said yesterday that he no longer wanted to play football because it would “be boring” without him. “I’ll miss him for my whole life,” he said.

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