The mum of an 18-year-old who was shot in the street in Liverpool has shared her horror at other recent gun crime on the six-year anniversary of his death.
Yusuf Sonko was a week away from completing his A level exams when he was shot and killed in Tagus Street in Toxteth, Liverpool, UK on June 2, 2017.
The shooting was one of five which happened within a week in Merseyside and Yusuf was one of three people murdered during June 2017 in unconnected incidents.
Eight men have since been arrested in connection with the killing, but nobody has been charged with his murder.
Now his mum Khadija Sonko says she wants to face the person who killed her son, after TV Crime show Crimestoppers offered a reward of up to £20,000 for information which leads to the conviction of those responsible.
Khadija, 45, said: ‘I need to face the person and ask him why. Why me? Why Yusuf?’
‘Eighteen years is too early, you don’t even let him enjoy his life. It’s just wicked.’
Yusuf’s shooting was one of five which happened in the space of a week in Merseyside in 2017.
Last year there were five fatal shootings in Merseyside, including the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
Khadija, who owns a a hair salon, said hearing about other victims of gun crime in the region brought her back to her son’s death.
She added: ‘I cry for them. Even though I don’t know who the mother is, I cry for them because I know what I’m going through, it never goes away. It’s always there.
‘If I hear somebody’s child’s been murdered I cry. I say, “Again? Again? Why don’t they stop?
‘I don’t think any mother should be going through what I am going through.’
Khadija believes there are people out there with information about her son’s killer.
Appealing directly to them, she said: ‘You know what happened. Why don’t you give him justice? Why do you have to make me suffer with my family and keep the secret?
‘This is not snitching. This is a murder case, snitching and a murder case are completely different.
‘You keep that information to yourself then you are wicked, you have got a wicked heart.’
