LIVERPOOL, England, April 29 (UPI) -- Nicky Ayers, manager of a British soccer team and a reputed mobster in Liverpool, was gunned down early Thursday, police said.
Ayers took at least three bullets in an execution-style killing just after midnight, the Liverpool Echo reported. He was shot on the street in West Derby, apparently as he returned home after a visit with a young grandson.
The manager of the Western Approaches Football Club in the Liverpool and District Sunday League, Ayers was involved in several incidents at soccer games this year that appeared to involve a drug-related turf war.
In one incident, Ayers and a rival reportedly pulled out guns during a game between Western Approaches and the Croxteth team, The Lobster, resulting in a standoff broken up by their associates. In February, a children's soccer game in the area was called off when gunfire was heard.
One witness described hearing four shots.
"I heard four bangs, one after the other," he said. "Me and the missus were in bed when we heard police cars screeching round the corner."
