Recent Spate of Knife Attacks in London
Over the past few days, three young men have had their lives tragically cut short due to knife crime- approximately two weeks ago on Saturday, 3rd of May, Lyle Tulloch was found with stabs wounds in a stairwell in Borough, South London. He died at the scene of the attack, making him the 12th teenager to be fatally stabbed or shot in London since the beginning of 2008.
On Saturday, 12th of May, Jimmy Mizen died after being attacked by another customer in a bakery shop in South-East London. He had just celebrated his 16th birthday the day before, and was out to buy his first lottery ticket. He died after trying to intervene in a confrontation between the other customer and the shop-owner; which led to the other customer smashing a wooden sign-board through the window of the shop, and attacking Jimmy with broken glass when he tried to intervene.
On Monday, 12th of May, in broad daylight on the busiest shopping street in the UK, 22-year-old Steven Bigby from North London was killed with a single stab wound to his chest. At first, the police believed that the incident which occurred just outside McDonalds in Oxford Street was a dispute between Steven and another man. However, it has just come to light that Steven had his life ended after a row over a thrown drink. Police officers say that two groups of black men clashed outside the restaurant after the incident, leading to Steven being killed.
Just last week, two murder trials were held- one for Kodjo Yenga, and the other for Paul Erhahon. Kodjo was 16 when he was attacked by a gang of black youths; after being challenged to a one-on-one fight, he arrived at the location, only to find himself ambushed by several youths wielding knives, baseball bats, and one even carrying a pitbull terrier. He died from a single stab wound to the heart after he was attacked in Hammersmith Grove, West London, in March 2007. On Friday, 9th of May 2008, five teenagers- two 14-year-olds, two 17-year-olds, and one 15-year-old- were found guilty of his murder. On that same friday, the murderers of 14-year-old Paul Erhahon were also brought to justice. Paul was stabbed in the heart with a samurai sword, after being set upon by a 17-strong in Leytonstone, East London, last April. It is believed he was killed after accidentally stepping into ‘rival territory’- killed over something as trivial as different postcodes.
All in all, 13 teenagers have become victims of Knife and Gun crime since the beginning of the year, and we’re not even halfway through yet. All but four of those teenagers were black boys.
On New Year’s day, 17-year-old Henry Bolombi became the first victim of knife crime of the year, after he was chased by a group of boys in Edmonton, North London, and stabbed in the chest. He was with a group of his own friends, when they became involved in a row with another group after getting off a night bus. This incident sent shivers down my spine when I first heard about it, as I kept thinking it could have happened to even me. I was out with my group of friends on New Year’s Eve, and when we got on the night bus, we got into an argument with a group of black boys on the bus. Luckily, with the bus driver threatening to call the police, the other group got off the bus; but what if the bus driver hadn’t been so quick to act, and threaten us with police action- who knows?
Just four days later after Henry’s death, 18-year-old Faridon Alizada was killed at a flat in Erith, South-East London.
On 21st January, Boduka Mudianga, 18, was killed with a single stab wound to the chest after getting involved in a confrontation with several other teenagers in Edmonton, North London.
On 28th January, 19-year-old Fuad Buraleh from my own hometown of Hayes, West London, died from head injuries after being hit on the head with a blunt object, in nearby West Ealing.
On 19th February 2008, 15-year-old Sunday Essiet, died after being found with serious stab wounds in Woolwich, South-East London.
On 23rd February, 17-year-old Tung Le was stabbed in the heart outside a club in Westminster. He later died in hospital on 2nd March.
On 29th February 2008, 16-year-old Ofiyke Nmezu died two weeks after his skull was fractured in Enfield, North London.
On 13th March 2008, 18-year-old university student Michael Alexander Jones was found dead at his home in Edmonton, North London with severe head injuries and a stab wound to the chest.
The very next day, 19-year-old Nicholas Clarke was shot in the head in Brixton, South London.
Approximately two weeks later, 17-year-old Devoe Roach was stabbed in Stamford Hill, North London. On the same day that Devoe was killed, 14-year-old Amro Elbadawi died in hospital after his throat was slashed in Queen’s Park, West London.
Now, just over a week ago, Lyle Tulloch died in Peckham, and then on Saturday, another London teen was cruelly taken from the world; this time it was the unfortunate turn of Jimmy Mizen.
Look at the list- I repeat just take at look at the list of young men cruelly snatched from the world- these are people’s sons, grandsons, nephews, brothers, and possibly uncles. Why did they deserve their fate? Why did they deserve to be so cruelly snatched from their loved ones? The fact is, they didn’t deserve this at all; they were the innocent victims of lost boys trying to act like they’re big just because they carry a shank (knife) or a gat (gun). All these boys lost their lives either for no reason at all or completely trivial matters like postcode beef (fight). There was a time when fights were settled using fists and not knives and guns.
As I previously mentioned, all but four of the victims were black boys. Why are we doing this to ourselves my brothers and sisters? Why are we eliminating ourselves from the world for no good reason at all? We are the same black people that complain that the Government and the Police are all too quick to blame black people for being gun-toting and knife-wielding criminals- but can we really blame them? Isn’t it about time that we acknowledged that perhaps we have brought all of this on ourselves by killing each other?
Speaking from experience, I know of black boys that seem to think that if they carry knives, this makes them a big man or something. I know black boys that try and start beef just to get rated by their bredrins. I know of black boys that try and hype it just because someone was screwfacing at them. This is all just so pointless though. Instead of coming together, we’re turning against each other and for what? Mothers are losing their sons- children they carried for nine months and brought into the world, children they have cared for and nurtured but unfortunately not for a long time. Sisters are losing their brothers just because someone had a score to settle or someone wanted to “earn their spurs” to the leader of a gang.
Black boys- teenagers in general -WE NEED TO PUT THE WEAPONS DOWN!! Too much blood has been spilt over the last few months- too much blood of innocent people has been spilt and no matter how many times you wash your hands, their blood will remain on your hands. We need to stop this FOOLISHNESS and BULLSHIT right now- killing people’s children for no damn good reason is just STUPID beyond belief. Put the weapons down!!
