Enlarge imageLONDON (Reuters) - Police hunting the killers of a teenager slain in a racist attack in Liverpool said on Monday they wanted to trace two men over the killing.
Police said they were hunting Paul Taylor and Michael Barton, both 19, over the killing of 18-year-old Anthony Walker, who was beaten to death with an axe last Friday.
The suspects may have travelled abroad, said police in the county of Merseyside.
The two teenagers are from Huyton where Walker was killed in a murder police have called a "despicable act".
Walker, a black college student described as a devout Christian, was attacked by a gang of three or four men minutes after he was taunted with racial abuse while waiting for a bus with his white girlfriend and a male relative on Friday night.
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Police arrested a second teenager on Monday in connection with the killing. The 17-year old male was being held for questioning. An 18-year old man arrested on Sunday was freed on police bail. Both youths are from Huyton.
Detectives said Walker had been abused by a man wearing a hooded top as he waited with his 17-year-old girlfriend and his cousin, also 17, at a bus stop in Huyton.
The trio did not respond and were moving away through a park when the gang attacked him.
Walker’s girlfriend and cousin 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 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 a lawyer, local media reported. In a plea for help from the public his sister on Sunday praised her 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.
The attack has echoes of the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death by racists in London. His death led to an inquiry that concluded there was "institutionalised racism" in the London police force.
His mother Doreen Lawrence said: "The senseless murder of such a promising young man is a loss to society and our thoughts and prayers are with Anthony’s loved ones for whom the loss of such a dear child can know no comparison."
