Two murders and the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy on the same night have been linked by detectives as police battle to control London’s knife crime crisis.
Police investigating the two murders in Camden on Tuesday night arrested an 18-year-old boy on Thursday evening at an address in the borough.
The arrest comes after the deaths of 17-year-old Abdikarim Hassan and aspiring accountant Sadiq Aadam Mohamed, 20, who were found within a mile of each other following the bloodiest night in London so far this year.
Their deaths took the number of fatal stabbings in the capital since the turn of the year to 15 after yet another night of carnage on the streets of London.
Police are also linking the two murders to a non-fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old boy in nearby Aldenham Street, in King’s Cross.
He remains in hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Abdikarin Hassan was fatally stabbed in Bartholomew Road in Camden, north London, on Tuesday night around 8.30pm
Aspiring accountant Sadiq Aadam Mohamed, 20, was found with serious stab wounds in Malden Road, in Belsize Park, around 10.15pm on Tuesday night
How many fatal stabbings have there been in London since New Year’s Eve?
Two more fatal knife attacks have claimed lives in London as police battle a rise in violent crime.
So far this year 15 people have been stabbed to death in the capital, five of whom were teenagers.
31 December: Meschak Dos Santos Cornelio, 18, was knifed in Larmans Road in Enfield, at 11.30am and died in hospital later that evening.
31 December: Taofeek Lamidi, 20, was repeatedly stabbed during an attack in Memorial Avenue, West Ham, on New Year’s Eve and a postmortem found the cause of death to be a knife wound to the heart.
31 December: Kyall Parnell, 17, was attacked in front of horrified revellers on his way to a New Year’s Eve party and died after being chased through traffic in Tulse Hill, south London.
1 January: Steve Frank Narvaez-Arias, 20, was stabbed in the chest on New Year’s Day at a flat party in Old Street.
There have been 15 fatal stabbings in London so far this year – Tuesday night was the bloodiest in the capital
3 January: Elizabeta Lacatusu, 44, was found bleeding to death on Norfolk Road, in Ilford, after she had her throat slashed.
11 January: Harry Uzoka – who had modelled for brands including Mercedes and Zara – was stabbed in Shepherd’s Bush.
3 February: Kwabena Nelson, 22, was ambushed in Tottenham in the early hours where he was fatally stabbed.
3 February: Hasan Ozcan 19, from Barking, East London, died after being knifed several times outside an estate in Barking which has been plagued by stabbings and shootings.
5 February: Juan Olmos Saca died in hospital after being stabbed in Peckham.
9 February: Hannah Leonard, 55, was found with stab wounds in an apartment block in Brays Tower, Primrose Hill. The grandmother-of-two was born in Co. Cork before moving to London in the 1980s.
11 February: Sabri Chibani, 19, was stabbed to death in Streatham, South London 11 weeks after moving to the capital from his native Italy to build himself a ‘great future’.
14 February: Lord Promise Nkenda, 17, from Newham, East London, died from knife wounds to the chest after he was attacked on Valentine’s Day in Canning Town.
18 February: Lewis Blackman, 19, from Camden, North London, was stabbed to death outside Freddie Mercury’s old house in Kensington, West London, following a party.
20 February: Abdikarim Hassan, 17, was knifed to death in Camden at 8.30pm on Tuesday.
20 February: Less than two hours later, Sadiq Aadam Mohamed, 20, died after being stabbed in Malden Road, Camden.
In the first fatal attack on Tuesday night Somalian Abdikarim Hassan was stabbed to death in front of his mother as he went to get a drink from outside Savers Mini Market corner shop in Bartholomew Road, Camden, at about 8.30pm.
His mother, Shamso Mohamed, heard the sirens of the emergency services and rushed to the scene.
Recognising his coat, she rang his mobile phone and heard it ringing in front of her.
But police refused to let her through the cordon and she had to watch helplessly as her son lay dying a few feet away.
Mrs Mohamed, who brought her family to the UK when Abdi was aged two, was said to be too distraught to speak yesterday.
His aunt Fatima Deria, read a statement on behalf of her sister saying: ‘I brought my children to this country to flee from civil war but here is where he lost his life.’
She went on: ‘She said she came here for their safety, to flee from home. But he’s not safe is he? He’s dead.’
His uncle Yusuf Ahmed added: ‘This is where he lost his life, not back home.’
Abdikarim, a business student at Westminster College, was the eldest child of six and a keen footballer who supported Manchester United.
The two stabbings occurred less than a mile apart in north-west London last night. The first attack, in Bartholomew Road happened at 8.30pm and this was followed by the attack in Malden Road around 10.15pm
His uncle recalled: ‘He was always smiling. He helped his mum all the time – whenever he was off from college he was taking his siblings to school.’
Layla Awad, a family friend, said: ‘Abdi was a nice, genuine kid, he was always friendly.
‘He was always polite – he had this innocence and politeness to him.’
She added: ‘His mother saw the lights and sirens and was wondering what was happening.
‘She said (to the police) that jacket looks like her son’s and can she have a look if it’s her son and they refused.
‘She called his mobile and it was ringing and that’s when she realised that it was her son, and they refused to let her in.’
A post-mortem examination revealed his cause of death was a stab wound to the chest.
Witnesses said they saw him staggering from the Peckwater estate, before collapsing outside the shop where a local doctor battled to save his life.
One local said: ‘He was a lovely boy, he was always playing football on the pitch on the estate. He had just been going to the shop when he was attacked. It’s become like a territorial war zone around here.’
A 19-year-old man who lives near Bartholomew Road said the stabbings were becoming ‘everyday behaviour for these youngsters’.
‘It’s just normal now. It’s getting to the point where it’s getting ridiculous.’
The attack took place just metres away from where a candlelit vigil was held for another teenage stabbing victim on Monday night.
Lewis Blackman, 19, who grew up on the Peckwater estate in Kentish Town, was killed in Kensington on Sunday outside Freddie Mercury’s former home.
Heartbroken Fowsiya Abdi (pictured) decribed how her son Sadiq Adan Mohamed, 20, had been threatened with a Rambo knife just two months before his murder in London
Sadiq was hacked to death by a ‘samurai sword’ carrying gang of four men. His brother Mohamed (left), was stabbed to death in September 2017, some four years after and their cousin Mohamed Abdullahi was stabbed to death in 2013
Less than two hours later aspiring accountant Sadiq Aadam Mohamed, 20, was found with serious stab wounds in Malden Road, in Belsize Park, around 10.15pm.
Police said Sadiq and his friend were chased by a gang of four men along an alleyway leading to Malden Road before they stabbed him. His friend was uninjured.
The gang then fled towards Prince of Wales Road.
Sadiq’s death brought the bloody toll of stab deaths in London to 15 this year.
His distraught mother Fowsiya Abdi revealed how her son rang her as he lay dying, leaving her a voicemail message begging for help, saying, ‘I’m wounded,’ just moments after he was attacked by a four-strong mob wielding a samurai sword.
She called for anyone carrying a blade to be ‘taken off the streets’ and spoke of her agony after her elder son and nephew were also killed at the same age within a mile of each other in London in separate attacks over the last five years.
Sadiq’s brother Mohamed Aadam, was fatally knifed last September in Camden, while his cousin, Mohamed Abdullahi, was stabbed to death in 2013.
The two men, both aged 20, died less than a mile from the spot where Sadiq was killed.
Police have expressed growing concern about a rise in knife crime, and staged a nationwide crackdown last week in a bid to stem the tide. Pictured, forensics officers at the scene in Malden Road, in Camden
Mrs Abdi, 48, said: ‘He left me a message that said ‘I’m wounded, I got wounded’.
‘But the police refused to let me see my son at the scene, after a while someone came to see me and said Sadiq was dead.
‘I don’t know who killed my son, I do not know why. But in September Mohamed was killed and now last night Sadiq was killed, and four years ago my nephew was too. They were all 20.
‘It’s unacceptable, I am now so worried for my other children, they all live in the same postcode. Sadiq was an excellent boy, he was very close to me and his family.
‘He was at Middlesex University studying business and working part-time in Tesco. He did not do any drugs, or smoke, or drink alcohol. I cannot express how angry I am.
‘I would like for anyone carrying a knife to be punished and taken off the streets and children who are excluded from school (for carrying a knife) to be stopped. If you lose a child it’s a dark day.
‘I’m still going the pain of losing another son and there are no words to express this hurt.’
Mrs Abdi said her son, who dreamed of being a City accountant, had been targeted by a gang armed with a Rambo knife and gun two months before his murder on Tuesday night.
Local sources said that the murder was a revenge attack linked to the killing of Sadiq’s brother.
‘There is a lot of rivalry with the Somali boys and the other areas in Camden…all of the areas in Camden are rivals. Everyone is in wars,’ one source, who asked not to be named, said, adding: ‘Sadiq’s brother, who was stabbed to death on Hampstead Road a few months back…was part of [a gang] but Sadiq played no part in that lifestyle, he was a good boy who went to school and kept his head down.’
Last year Mr Mohamed’s uncle Aydarus Ahmed launched a campaign to try to end youth violence.
The family released a statement saying: ‘This is now the constant theme in our community. We are made to believe that the police are here to protect us, but how does a mother feel her kids are protected when she has lost two in the same vicinity within months?
‘We have lots of questions and need answers. Somebody has to listen to us.’
A third stabbing took place in Aldenham Street, Somers Town, at 8:30pm on Tuesday night. A 16-year-old was hospitalised with ‘non-life threatening’ knife wounds
Police are also linking the two murders to the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy in nearby Aldenham Street, in King’s Cross around 8pm on Tuesday. He remains in hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
It is thought the victim was with another boy when a group of three men chased them down before stabbing the 16-year-old.
Four men – aged 24, 23, 20, and 21 – were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
They were taken into custody and have now been released under investigation.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Considine, leading the investigation, said: ‘What is clear is that there were three violent attacks, by a group of men armed with knives, within about two hours of each other and within about a mile of each other.
‘I need the public’s help to establish the exact circumstances in which two young men were murdered and another seriously injured, and to identify the people responsible.
‘Today, I am asking local residents or those people who were out in the area that night to think back – and if they saw something that may help us, please get in contact. I can understand why some people may be reluctant or nervous about coming forward but we need your help. We will treat your information in the strictest of confidence.
‘I also believe that there are people out there who knows exactly who is responsible. I would urge you to do the right thing and tell us what you know. It is not too late.
‘Two families are suffering a terrible loss, and you could hold the answers to what happened to their sons, brothers, loved ones, best friends…
‘The frequency with which young men are prepared to take each others’ lives is shocking. We all have a part to play in preventing this. If you know something about these murders then please do your part in helping us with this investigation.
‘One line of enquiry that we are urgently pursuing is that a blue van was seen in the area of the two murders. If you saw a vehicle that caused you concern due to how it was being driven or the people inside it then please get in touch with us.’
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the investigation team on 020 8345 3734, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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