4 stabbings, fatal shooting in 12hrs of London violence

LONDON: A day of violence saw two teenagers killed within minutes of each other in different parts of London while three men were stabbed in a separate attack hours later.

Metropolitan Police say 14 people have been arrested in connection with the three incidents, two of which happened on Friday afternoon and the other in the early hours of Saturday morning. London mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “sickened” following the deaths of the two teenage boys.

Emergency services were called to Deeside Road in Wandsworth, south-west London, at 4.42pm on Friday where the first victim — believed to be in his late teens — was found stabbed.

The victim died at the scene and is yet to be formally identified, with a post-mortem examination due to be held. Six males were later arrested and taken to separate west London police stations for questioning.

Marina Paget, 22, who lives in the area, told the Press Association: “I walked past at 2.30pm and I didn’t see anything, but when I came back from work at 5.30pm it was all going on. I walked past I saw what looked like the body on the floor covered in a bag and there were 50 people around, loads of people, two or three ambulances.”

In a second incident, at 4.54pm, armed police were called to Hartville Road in Plumstead, to reports of a shooting. The victim, also believed to be in his late teens, was found with critical injuries. The London Ambulance and the London Air Ambulance attended, but the teenager died at the scene a short while later.

The victim has yet to be formally identified and police were working to notify his next of kin. Three men and a woman were later arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to separate south London police stations for questioning.

At around 3.22am on Saturday, police were called to Bedford Road in Clapham following reports of a fight. Three men were found with stab and slash injuries. The condition of two of the men is unknown, while the third has injuries which are not life-threatening or life-changing.

Four men were arrested in connection with the incident — two for violent disorder, one accused of carrying a bladed instrument and another for possession of a Taser — and have been taken into custody at a south London police station. Khan said: “I am sickened to hear that two young lives have been ended within minutes of each other in Wandsworth and Greenwich. Our overstretched police are working around the clock to keep Londoners safe. They need our support to end this scourge of violence. Anybody who has information about what happened either in Wandsworth or Greenwich should do the right thing and call the police.”

Tooting MP Rosena Allin-Khan said the suspected murder on Deeside Road was “heartbreaking” and “absolutely tragic”. “My heart goes out to the family of this victim after this absolutely tragic incident,” she wrote on Twitter. “I spoke at length with people on the Aboyne Estate tonight, anyone with concerns can contact me — I’m here to listen. Sending love to the Tooting family tonight — this is heartbreaking.”