5th April, 2018
Photo: Sky News
An 18-year-old Nigerian teenager, Israel Ogunsola has been stabbed to death in Hackney, London on Wednesday night.
The deceased was said to be Facebook friends with a teenage girl killed in London earlier this week, Sky News reports.
Ogunsola was said to have approached police suffering from knife wounds shortly before 8pm on Wednesday following the attack.
Paramedics and staff from the London Air Ambulance attempted to save his life but he was pronounced dead at the scene less than half an hour later.
Two 17-year-olds have been arrested on suspicion of murdering Ogunsola.
According to Sky News, it had emerged the victim was Facebook friends with Tanesha Melbourne, a 17-year-old who was shot in a drive-by shooting on Monday in Tottenham.
Just 30 minutes later, 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor was shot in the face in Walthamstow.
A spate of knife and gun deaths has prompted fears London’s murder rate for 2018 will surge above that for last year.
Meanwhile, two people are in hospital following reports of a stabbing in Mile End, east London.
Israel Ogunsola’s father, Dele, said his son had been training to become a computer programmer and was “thoughtful” and “joyous”.
He has demanded the “bloodshed must stop”, saying Israel was just cycling to meet friends when he was attacked.
He told the Evening Standard: “London’s streets are so dangerous. Young people are being slaughtered every day. If it means bringing back more stop and search, then so be it.
“We have to tackle this problem and the Government needs to do more.”
Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick has pledged to use “Al Capone” tactics to curb the rise in murders and knife crime in the capital.
She said a new task force of 120 officers would focus on the most violent gang members and individuals to take them off London’s streets “for any crime”.
Ogunsola is one of 51 people identified by Sky News to have been suspected of being deliberately killed in London so far in 2018.
Stabbings in the capital are at their highest rate since 2010/2011.
The latest was in the area of Billet Road, Walthamstow, at around 12.50pm on Thursday when a man in his 20s was taken to hospital with knife wounds.
His injuries that are not thought to be life-threatening.
Labour’s MP for Walthamstow, Stella Creasy, hit out at Prime Minister Theresa May in a post on Twitter for “coming to our borough looking for votes” and not “hearing our call for help to tackle the violent crime”.
The latest victim to be killed was a man in his 50s who died outside a Betfred bookmakers in Upper Clapton Road, Clapton, following a suspected fight.
A police spokeswoman said the Met Police began a murder investigation into the death on Thursday morning.
A statement said at this stage there have been no arrests.