Merseyside detectives investigating the death of 11-year-old Rhys Jones said yesterday they had found a gun they believe was the murder weapon.
He was shot in the neck near the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth, Liverpool, as he walked home from football practice last August.
His death, which followed a wave of teenage murders, shocked the country.
Police have arrested more than a dozen people in connection with the 11-year-old's murder. No one has been charged.