Khadija and Papice Sonko, the parents of Yusuf Sonko who died after being shot in Toxteth in June last year, have issued an open letter on Valentine’s Day appealing for people to come forward with information.
Eighteen-year-old Yusuf was found injured on Tagus Street, at the rear of shops on Lodge Lane, on the evening of Friday 2 June. He was taken to hospital but died a short while later.
An investigation is currently underway and detectives have appealed for any information that could help them with their inquiries.
Anyone who has any information is asked to contact the gun crime hotline on 0800 230 0600 or leave information anonymously and for free with Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. You can also use their online form anonymously: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information-online
The letter says:
“Dear Friends,
It has been eight long months since our son, Yusuf, was brutally murdered, shot in the head on 2nd June 2017 on Lodge Lane, a busy street, with many people there witnessing what happened on that fateful evening. No one from our community, not his friends, no mother, sister, brother or father has yet had the courage to come forward, to give evidence, to bring the person who killed my boy to justice.
It is the season of love, Valentine’s Day, on this day I am asking for somebody to show us Yusuf’s family some compassion, some love, to demonstrate the love that was held for Yusuf.
We are writing this letter to appeal to you, to our community members to come forward with any information to bring the killer of Yusuf to face justice.
My family is broken, our hearts are broken, we will never be able to celebrate with Yusuf any more birthdays or festivals, we will never know what his future life would have brought him, and we will never see him grow into a mature man, to see him fall in love.
We are appealing to you mother to mother, father to father, sister and brother, please help us, please come forward with information. Our community must break this wall of silence, it just takes one person to do the right thing. Put yourselves in our position, what would you want if it was your child or family member that was killed?
Please come forward, speak to the police and please bring us some peace at this time of year.
Call CRIMESTOPPERS on 0800 555 111.
Khadija and Papice Sonko”