Teenager's family view floral tributes left where he was attackedThe mother of a 15-year-old boy murdered in a gang attack in County Antrim has paid tribute to her son.
Michael McIlveen, a Catholic, died in hospital on Monday evening after being beaten with a baseball bat in an alley in Ballymena, on Sunday.
His mother, Gina, said her son was "popular" with Catholic and Protestant friends: "I just can't understand this at all - he didn't deserve it." Just because he wore a Celtic football shirt,Why is that so bad to these hate filled scum?
Four men and a juvenile are still being questioned about the sectarian assault.
Earlier on Tuesday, Michael's uncle, Francis McIlveen, told the BBC's Nolan programme the family wanted to make sure nothing like that ever happened again.
"The family's distraught at the minute, so they are," he said.
"They just can't believe it that wee Michael's gone, a wee child, 15-years-of-age, lying in that bed, dead."
The teenager, from the Dunvale area of Ballymena, was attacked after buying a pizza on Sunday. He had been on a life support machine at Antrim Area Hospital where his family had been at his bedside.
I think now's the time, if any time, in the memory of Michael McIlveen to put an end to sectarianism
Terry ShevlinPSNI district commander
Michael was a pupil at St Patrick's College in Ballymena which held a special assembly on Tuesday morning.
School principal Kate Magee said everyone was shocked by the death of Michael who, she said, had been very popular.
"We feel very much his loss," she said. "We are supporting one another. It is very much a whole community effort to try to support the young people."
Young people have been holding vigils in the teenager's memory and flowers are being laid at the spot where he was attacked.
Michael McIlveen died after being attacked in Ballymena
Superintendent Terry Shevlin, who has pointed to a sectarian motive for the attack, said there was a lot of emotion and anger at the murder.
"There's maybe a turning point within Ballymena - that not just young people but adults, who at times behind the scenes would orchestrate young people to get involved in sectarianism, I think now's the time, if any time, in the memory of Michael McIlveen, to put an end to that."
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