Second teen arrested over Anthony Walker murder

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LONDON (Reuters) - Police arrested a second teenager on Monday in connection with the murder of Anthony Walker who was killed by an axe last week in an apparently racially motivated attack.

Merseyside police said a 17-year old male was being held for questioning and that an 18-year old man arrested on Sunday had freed on police bail.

Walker, a black 18-year old local college student, was attacked by a gang of three or four men, just minutes after he had been taunted with racial abuse while waiting for a bus with his girlfriend and a male relative on Friday night.

Detectives said Walker had been abused by a man wearing a hooded top as he waited with his 17-year-old white girlfriend and a relative at a bus stop in Huyton.

The trio did not respond and moved away through a park when the gang attacked him.

The two youths arrested in connection with Walker’s killing are both from the Huyton area of Merseyside.

The dead teen’s girlfriend and the relative, also 17, ran to get help. When they returned they found the victim slumped on the ground with serious injuries to his head. He later died in hospital.

Police have called the murder a "despicable act" and vowed to catch the killers.

Local residents have been laying floral tributes to the dead teenager, who was a devout Christian and model student who wanted to become .....continued below

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In a plea for help from the public his sister on Sunday praised her dead brother.

"He blessed so many lives in such a unique way. His life was stolen from him. His family, friends, all these people here are devastated," Dominique Walker told reporters.