Google has deleted a video glorifying guns and violence after the gang behind it was linked to the killing of a boy.
The internet giant took down the film on its YouTube service after being alerted to it by the Daily Mail following the shooting of schoolboy Corey Junior Davis.
A feud between the Woodgrange E7 gang and the rival Beckton E6 crew, based in east London, is believed to have led to the 14-year-old’s murder next to a playground in Forest Gate on Monday.
The Woodgrange gang’s video began with an aerial shot of police on the street below, with the words: ‘Four officers arrived with minutes of the shooting’.
Deleted: Google has taken a music video created by the Woodgrange E7 gang down from tis website. It had been viewed over 280,000 times
The family of Corey Junior Davis (pictured left and right), from East London, took the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life-support machine. The teen was shot in the head next to a playground in Forest Gate, east London, on Monday
The screen cuts to men wearing masks, dark jackets and gloves rapping to the camera. A gunshot hole then appears in the screen while they rap ‘I’m shooting to kill’ and ‘We don’t give a toss about law’.
Corey, who has been linked to the Woodgrange group, was shot from behind at close range by a masked gunman in what locals believe was a revenge attack arranged by the E6 gang after the stabbing of an 18-year-old during a mass brawl at the nearby Westfield shopping centre on Friday.
His family made the heartbreaking decision to switch off his life support machine on Tuesday night after he suffered catastrophic injuries from a shotgun blast to the head.
Following Monday’s murder, the Daily Mail found chilling YouTube videos produced by the two gangs in which members drink, smoke marijuana and rap about violence while making hand gestures resembling punching and shooting.
Google was accused last month of putting lives at stake and ‘glamorising gang culture’ for refusing more than half of police requests to remove gang videos inciting knife and gun crime in London. Pictured above, an E6 Beckton gang YouTube music video
None of the videos found by the Mail appeared to have linked advertising. But if any other videos do, it could mean gangsters could earn an estimated £5,000 a month from the adverts, from which Google also benefits.
A YouTube spokesman said they have specialists around the world removing content that breaks their rules, adding: ‘While YouTube is a platform for free and creative expression, we strictly prohibit videos that are abusive or promote violence.
‘We work closely with organisations like the Met Police to understand where artistic expression escalates into real threats. We’re committed to improving our work on this issue to make sure YouTube is not a place for those who seek to do harm.’