Murder investigation launched after boy, 16, dies in suspected stabbing

The young victim was found with suspected stab wounds in Tulse Hill, south London, after police were called to reports of a shooting in Greenleaf Close at 10.53pm.

Paramedics tried to save the teenager, but he was pronounced dead at 11.41pm, the Metropolitan Police said as they launched a murder inquiry.

Officers believe the boy had suffered stab rather than gunshot wounds, although the Met stressed that inquiries were at an early stage.

No arrests have been made and the boy’s next-of-kin have been informed.

The suspected murder would bring the number of homicides in London this year to 117.

On Monday, the Mayor of London warned it could take a generation to turn the tide of violent crime in the capital.

Sadiq Khan was speaking after a series of fatal stabbings in the capital in recent days.

On Wednesday, “adored” father Rocky Djelal, 38, was fatally stabbed in broad daylight in Southwark Park in Rotherhithe, south-east London.

The following day, 15-year-old Jay Hughes was killed in Bellingham, also in south-east London, by a stab wound to the heart.

Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, was fatally knifed on Friday outside Clapham South Tube station in south London, near where he studied.

On Sunday, a man believed to be aged 22 was fatally stabbed in Samos Road, Anerley, also in south London.

A neighbour in Greenleaf Close, Tulse Hill, thought she heard a gunshot before dashing outside and finding the teenager in a driveway, looking like an “angel”.

Paulina Wedderburn saw the victim’s emotional mother and father at the scene and said it it took some 15 minutes for emergency crews to arrive.

“The boy was laying down. He looked like an angel, like he was sleeping,” Mrs Wedderburn said on Tuesday morning.

“I just feel sorry for the mum. The mum’s screams I can’t get out of my head.

“It’s awful. Imagine being a mother seeing that.”

The neighbour saw a black car driving off.

“A big black Audi, I think,” she said.

Mrs Wedderburn, who has lived in a flat in Greenleaf Close for decades, lamented the recent spate of violence and killings in south London, saying it had not always been that way.

“What’s going on? What is it? Why do they have to be killing each other?” she said.

“When I was growing up in the ’70s, if there was a fist fight, that was it. There was no knives.

“All you’re doing is upsetting families. If you saw the mum and dad, it was heartbreaking.”

She added that the victim’s mother had been to the flats before to pick up her son as she did not like him hanging around there.

One of the boy’s friends, who lives at the estate and did not want to be named, also thought he heard a gunshot before he looked out of the window and saw the commotion.

“Growing up around here, you become used to it. You can tell the difference between a gunshot and a firework,” he said.

“I heard a person say ‘We got him, we got him’.”

He said it took about 20 minutes for emergency crews to arrive.

“I lost a friend,” he said. “If they had come sooner my friend would still be alive.”

A man from a private block of flats across the road said the local Tulse Hill community needed better leadership to stop the wave of violence.

“We need some kind of leadership from the community here where it’s happening,” Sean Seymour, said as he waited for a bus to work

“This epidemic is just appalling.”