Axe attack 'racially motivated'

2005-07-31 12:21

Liverpool - A black teenager died on Saturday after an attacker embedded an axe in his skull in a crime police say was racially motivated.

Anthony Walker, 18, was waiting for a bus with his girlfriend and a cousin when a man started shouting racist taunts at them near Walker's home in Liverpool around 23:30 on Friday, police said.

The three did not retaliate, instead leaving to find another bus stop in order to avoid any trouble, police said.

But a group of three or four men followed them through a park, and Walker's companions saw someone bludgeon him with an axe.

They ran to get help and returned a few minutes later to find him with the axe embedded in his skull, news reports said.

Walker died early on Saturday in a neurological hospital.

"This was a despicable act, and we are absolutely determined to find the people responsible," said Bernard Lawson, assistant chief constable of the Liverpool police.

Detective chief superintendent Peter Currie, who was leading the investigation, appealed for help from the public in catching the attackers.

"What we are dealing with here is a vicious and unprovoked attack on a young black man which we believe to be racially motivated," he said.

Lawson said there had been several other incidents of racial abuse in the area recently.

- AP