The first picture of a 20-year-old stabbed to death in the street during a vicious brawl has emerged.
Ishak Tacine, from Enfield, was involved in a fight between men armed with baseball bats.
He bled to death in the street following a fight in Edmonton, north London on Wednesday evening.
A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder and violent disorder after walking into a North London hospital with a stab wound. He remains in custody for questioning, police said.
Ishak Tacine was involved in a fight between men armed with baseball bats in Edmonton
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Tracey Rogers, whose son was a friend of Mr Tacine said.
‘He came to our house a lot, he was a lovely guy. He would engage us in conversation and was thoughtful. He was nice… Certainly no gang member. My son and all friends are devastated.
Her husband Mark said: ‘He was always so smartly dressed and polite.
‘We cannot imagine why this would have happened.’
A witness to the fight said: ‘I saw three guys running. One has a T-shirt over his face, one had no shirt… They were hyped up and looked as though they were hunting for someone. It was frighting.
His stabbing became the latest in an unprecedented number of killings in London this year, with nearly 1,300 stabbings since January amid reports of a surge in violence crime across the country.
It also happened on the same night Mayor of London Sadiq Khan organised a London Knife Crime Summit.
A 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder and violent disorder remains in custody for questioning following the incident in Edmonton. Pictured, police at the scene
Police were called to reports of a row between men armed with baseball bats on Wednesday evening. Pictured, officers talking to residents at the scene
Police are investigating his death on Wednesday as a murder, bringing the total number of such investigations launched in London this year to at least 81
London remains in the grip of violent crime wave, with more than 80 fatal stabbings and shootings across the city already this year.
Metropolitan Police officers were called at around 6.30pm and Mr Tacine was pronounced dead at the scene less than an hour later.
The incident in Cavendish Road brings the total number of murder investigations launched in London this year to at least 81.
A 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder and violent disorder remains in custody for questioning, police said.
Bystander Naomi Campbell said: ‘I honestly have no words. Everyone knows what goes on here with the stabbings and murders but I’ve never had to watch someone die from it first hand.
‘The most traumatic thing I’ve ever seen and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
‘My thoughts go out to this poor boy’s family and friends and everyone affected. Another life taken… for what? The fact that he woke up in the morning, had plans for the day, for tomorrow and a whole future.
‘It’ll never leave my brain. Rest in peace. I hope wherever you are now, you are safe.’
Ishak Tacine, from Enfield, bled to death in Cavendish Road in Edmonton, north London
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan organised Wednesday’s London Knife Crime Summit, where Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said violence was increasing.
Mr Hewitt said: ‘If I was stood here five years ago, I would probably be talking about knife offences where there was generally a single puncture wound.
‘We are now routinely seeing multiple stabbings. That is one individual stabbing somebody multiple times.
‘Some of the CCTV footage that we see is shocking and quite frankly feral when you look at a group of individuals bearing down on another person.’
He added: ‘Most of the victims will be lying in their hospital bed after being stabbed multiple times and will literally tell us to “get lost”. They will have no involvement with us and that is a real issue.’
‘I have large numbers of officers now all over London who are routinely administering trauma medicine on the pavement and on the street in London to people who have been stabbed.
‘The other change is the weapons being used – the zombie knives, hunter knives, machetes. It is shocking and horrific and obviously those weapons are more dangerous than others.’
The rise in violence has been linked to the drugs trade, with particular focus on ‘county lines’ networks – where urban drug dealers force or manipulate children to courier banned substances to customers outside the city.
This graphic shows where guns and knives have been handed in to authorities in recent weapons amnesties
Detective Inspector Paul Considine, who is leading the investigation, said: ‘This is another tragic loss of young life and I am urgently appealing to anyone with information to get in touch.
‘We believe there were a number of other young men involved in the altercation which sadly led to this man’s death.
‘Those responsible must be caught and brought to justice.’
Violent crime in Britain’s capital soared by 21 per cent last year, with 1.3 million offences recorded by police. Knife crime rose by 22 per cent.
There have been more than 70 killings in London this year, many of them stabbings, and at one point the capital’s murder rate was higher than that of New York.
Last year there was a total of 80 fatal stabbings in the capital – the most in almost a decade.
Zombie blades to be banned in wake of bloody knife crimes
Zombie blades (pictured) will be banned in Britain
Zombie blades will be banned in Britain under a fresh Government crackdown launched in the wake of Britain’s bloody knife crime epidemic.
All knives will have to be collected from a shop rather than delivered to a home address and a person will have to show ID proving they are at least 18 to buy them.
The crackdown, announced by new Home Secretary Sajid Javid, comes after months of bloody carnage on Britain’s streets.
Some 81 people have been killed in London so far this year, and there are fears this deathly toll will rise more sharply in the summer.
Ministers have blamed the surge in murders on gangs vying for control of the lucrative drugs market, and have promised to get a grip on the epidemic.
Official figures show that 2017 was the worst year for knife deaths among young people since at least 2002.
Forty-six people aged 25 or under were stabbed to death in London, up by 21 compared with the previous year, according to police figures.
Britain’s knife crime epidemic has also spread to the Home Counties, with stabbings now more likely in Bedfordshire than in Merseyside.
Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Norfolk and north Wales’ rates of knife crime have all increased by more than 100 per cent in the past three years.
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