A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death on Friday outside Kelmscott school in Walthamstow, east London, in what has been described as a “senseless attack”. The attackers were reportedly waiting for the victim outside the school and ambushed him as he left. Despite his attempts to escape, he was stabbed outside an auto parts store a short distance away, in front of other pupils. Emergency services were called to the scene, but the boy died in the street at 4.39pm. No arrests have been made and road closures and cordons remain in place around the scene.
The headteacher of Kelmscott school, Sam Jones, said in a statement that the attack marked the “darkest of days” for the community. “A Kelmscott student was tragically killed in a senseless knife attack,” he said. “Kelmscott is a large and tight-knit family and this loss will be felt for a long time to come. Hold those that you love close this evening. I know we will come together as a community and support one another through this.”
Ch Supt Simon Crick, who leads the north-east command at the Metropolitan police, said he was “totally devastated by the loss of a young man’s life”.
The attack, which occurred just after the end of the school day, has shocked those who witnessed it. One business owner, who asked not to be named, said he saw one of the assailants get out of a white Hyundai shortly before the attack. Another witness said that gang-related violence had become a common occurrence in Walthamstow, claiming it had gone from “bad to worse”.
The victim was the second 16-year-old killed in the area in recent years – Amaan Shakoor was shot in the head near Kelmscott school in April 2018. The family of Amaan, whose killer has never been found, offered a £50,000 reward for information earlier this year.
Knife crime in England and Wales has been on the rise, with 45,000 incidents reported in the year ending March 2022 – a 9% increase from the previous year, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
2023-05-06 12:40:17
Source from www.theguardian.com
