Two teenagers stabbed to death in London in four fatal hours

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a teenager was stabbed to death in his school uniform outside a busy shopping centre. 

Baptista Adjei, 15, who was due to have trials with a top football club, was stabbed shortly after leaving St Bonaventure’s School, Forest Gate, in east London. 

He died in the street outside a McDonald’s in nearby Stratford at around 3.20pm on Thursday.

Police said a 15-year-old boy who handed himself in to an east London police station on Friday was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody.

Five hours later officers were called to the Brandon Estate in Camberwell, south London, where they found an 18-year-old man with stab wounds. That teenager died an hour later, the Metropolitan Police said.

Stratford victim Adjei – known as ‘Bap’ – was due to have a trial for Ipswich Town Football Club, his devastated former coach said today. 

Victim: Baptista Adjei, 15, pictured by his former football team, was stabbed to death in Stratford, east London yesterday 

Baptista’s former football coach, Senie Emmanuel, said he is ‘absolutely devastated’ about the promising athlete’s death.

Senie is Head of Development at Mindset FC where Bap played in the under 15s team until December last year.

He said: ‘I’m absolutely devastated, everyone’s still in shock. He was lined up for a trial with Ipswich. He was on the verge of making it.

‘That’s why he left our club. He a nice boy to work with, no problem at all. But I’m a dad and I know you often only see what children are like when they are with you.’

Senie is due to meet with Bap’s grieving mum, Josephine, later this evening.

His aunt told the Evening Standard he rang his mother, who lives in Canning Town, to say he was on his way home. 

She had offered to pick him up from school because Extinction Rebellion protests had shut down the DLR, but he decided to go to the Stratford Centre with a friend instead.  

Paying tribute to him, she said: ‘He was a fun-loving boy, very popular with everyone in church, everyone in the street knew him. He would come and put his arms around you. He would always make you laugh.’ 

Police and paramedics found the schoolboy with ‘critical injuries’ and despite battling to save his life he was pronounced dead at the scene near the shopping centre at 3.49pm (police treat the surviving teenager in Stratford)

A bunch of flowers with ‘RIP BAPS’ on it is pictured at the police cordon in Stratford today 

Bap had been playing for Ultra Elite Youth Football Club’s under 16 team this season.

This afternoon following school, around 50 pupils congregated at the scene of the murder, spilling into the road. 

Less than four hours after Baptista died police were scrambled to the scene of another stabbing on the Brandon Estate in Camberwell. 

Just after 8pm they found an 18-year-old man with knife wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene an hour later. 

Police have told MailOnline there is no suggestion the two incidents, which bring London’s 2019 murder toll to 117, are linked.   

His aunt Aretha Adjei told the newspaper: ‘He was a nice boy, the fact that he died in his school uniform is horrific. 

‘His mother is not coping well. She only has two children. You can’t imagine her pain. She keeps saying how she should have gone and picked him up.’ 

The detective leading the case, DCI Chris Soole, told MailOnline his family is suffering ‘unimaginable grief’.     

A forensic tent is pictured on the Brandon Estate in Camberwell after an 18-year-old man was stabbed to death last night 

A police cordon is pictured in place on the Brandon Estate in Camberwell in the early hours of this morning 

DCI Chris Soole said only someone who had lost a loved-one in similar tragic circumstances could quantify their loss and faced months of heartache ahead of them.

‘The boy’s family are understandably distraught,’ DCI Soole revealed. Unless you have lost a loved-one in these circumstances, no one can ever quantify the amount of grief they are experiencing at the moment.

‘The long journey they will undergo from now to even start that closure process, I can’t imagine it and I don’t think anyone who hasn’t been in that same situation can.’ 

The detective repeatedly urged witnesses to the horrific double-knife attack to come forward and tried to allay fears at the frequent stabbings around the Stratford Shopping Centre.

He said: ‘We are doing all we can to allay fears around knife crime being a focus outside the Stratford Centre.’

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said he was ‘devastated’ by stabbings in London which left two teenagers dead.

‘I am utterly devastated to hear that two teenagers have been killed on our streets – a 15-year-old boy in Stratford and an 18-year-old man in Southwark. My thoughts are with both victims’ loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.

‘Knife crime is stealing the futures of our young people – and it is devastating our communities. It has to stop. 

‘That’s why, despite the backdrop of vast government cuts, we’re funding dedicated officers on our streets to tackle violence – as well as focusing on addressing the causes of crime, investing in youth and preventative services.

‘I urge anyone with any information about these incidents to call the police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. There is no honour in staying silent.’

A huge police cordon is in place in Stratford today with the shopping centre closed for a possible two days.  Flowers were left as tributes at the scene.  

Pictures of Baptista have circulated on social media with the hashtags ‘fly high’, ‘rest up Baptista’ and ‘RIP’. 

 

The victim’s former football team paid tribute to him on social media, along with others in the area 

The schoolboy, known by friends as ‘Bap’, and the other teenager were attacked after getting off a bus that had stopped close to the Stratford Shopping Centre and going to get a snack at McDonald’s.

Friends rushed to help him and members of the public performed first aid at the scene.

Police and paramedics battled to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene near the shopping centre at 3.49pm. 

The second boy, aged 15, was found with stab injuries to his leg and was taken to an east London hospital, where his injuries are said to be not life-threatening. 

Witnesses trapped inside McDonald’s after the violence broke out say ‘Bap’ was stabbed ‘in the chest’.

One saw the youngster bleeding ‘from the heart’ as two women ‘pushed on his chest’ and told him to ‘open his eyes.’ 

Eyewitness Umer Draze, 31, was on a break from his work as a support training manager at a nearby Argos store.

Umer, of Manor Park, east London, said: ‘I was queuing in McDonald’s when I heard a loud bang on the door facing the street.

‘Suddenly people started shouting ‘someone has been stabbed, someone has been stabbed. I looked and saw the boy fall down just outside the door.

‘He was wearing a grey school uniform and looked young, with no facial hair. He looked about 13 or 14.

Pictured: Stratford Broadway in east London this afternoon, where a schoolboy was stabbed to death 

‘I could clearly see him bleeding from the heart. He had been stabbed in the chest. I’m 100 per cent sure.

‘Me and other customers tried to go out to the boy, but the door was locked. We all wanted to open the door but we couldn’t. So I was on the other side of the glass to him.

‘He wasn’t saying anything. I thought only God could save him. I started thinking about the boy’s mum.

‘Security workers from the shopping centre came over with two ladies who were passing by.

‘They were pushing on his chest saying ‘please talk to us,’ and ‘open your eyes.’

‘I didn’t see the other boy, but police interviewed me after and told me that one boy had been stabbed in the chest and the other had been stabbed in the leg.’

Police and paramedics found the schoolboy with ‘critical injuries’ and despite battling to save his life he was pronounced dead at the scene near the shopping centre at 3.49pm

Umer, who said the murder scene is directly outside the shop where he works, added: ‘It’s not normal for this to happen.

‘I’m so upset. I’m just going to try and concentrate on my job, but it’s hard. I have no words.’ 

Tresca Wilson, whose daughter was friends with Bap, tweeted: ‘Rest in peace Baptista, you are now in heaven with the angels. And condolences are with Baptista’s family and friends. It’s heartbreaking.’

DCI Chris Soole, who is leading the investigation, branded it a ‘senseless attack’ and said a murder investigation had been launched. 

He added: ‘First and foremost are thoughts are with this young man’s family and friends. They so tragically are having to come to terms with this terrible loss of life.

‘The victim of this stabbing was a schoolboy with his whole life ahead of him. He had everything to live for. 

‘This was a senseless attack and we share the concern and alarm this murder will no doubt cause in the local community. 

‘We will do everything we can to catch those involved and bring them to justice.’ 

A section 60 order, giving officers the power to stop and search in the area, has been implemented in Stratford while detectives scour the area.  

The teenagers were attacked on or after getting off a bus that had stopped close to the Stratford Shopping Centre, the force said

Police in Stratford, east London after a male teenager was fatally stabbed outside Stratford Broadway shortly after 3pm on Thursday

In Camberwell, officers were called to Grimsel Path on the Brandon Estate at 8.21pm last night. 

They found the victim, 18, suffering knife wounds and he was pronounced dead at 9.14pm. 

His next of kin have been told but formal identification and a post-mortem examination are yet to take place.    

A forensic examination tent and a police cordon were quickly put in place and remain there this morning. 

Witnesses claimed a group of women pleaded with the teenager, ‘please don’t die’ as they tried to save him.  

The women cried out ‘Stay awake, please don’t go’ as they tried to save the lad, named locally as Clinton, after he was stabbed in the stomach on a south east London estate.

Another woman who lives on the estate described the horrific scene after being alerted by screams outside.

The murder scene is pictured still with a cordon in place in Camberwell, south London today 

A forensic examination tent is still in place in Camberwell this morning 

The 54-year-old, who was watching telly, rushed down to help the victim who was lying on the ground on the Brandon Estate in Camberwell.

She said: ‘I was sat watching Emmerdale on the TV when I heard this scream saying ‘he’s been stabbed, he’s been stabbed.’

‘I have never heard such screaming like it in my life. I looked out and there were a group of women trying to resuscitate him, and trying to keep him alive.

‘They were saying ‘Stay awake! Don’t go! Please don’t die, please not yet.’

‘There were two or three of them to begin with, trying to help him stay alive and keeping him breathing.

‘They were middle aged women who go to the bingo on a Monday and a Wednesday.

‘He must’ve survived until the ambulance and the paramedics arrived and then five or 10 minutes later, he just died.

‘I think he had been stabbed twice and they tried to revive him. There were so many people around him.’

A passer-by walks along the estate where police are guarding the murder scene 

The woman found a grey jumper covered in blood when she went outside this morning.

She said: ‘I left my house this morning and I saw a grey jumper with blood on it by the rubbish shoot.

‘It was just lying there on the floor. I have no idea how it got there as you have to have a fob to get into our building.

‘I told the police officer and he went upstairs with a brown bag and said it was blood.’

The woman said there have been several stabbings in the area which has a history of gang violence.

She added: ‘To me this is just the beginning: you stab one gang and they come back and stab you. It is gang rivalry, that is what it is.’

Others claimed he was warned to stay away from the area, with residents hearing shouts of ‘you shouldn’t of come here’ after he moved away and was told not return.   

A friend, who did not want to be named, rushed to the boy’s aid and said ‘Wake up! Wake up!’ as he tried to keep his eyes open and saw he had been stabbed.

The 17-year-old had been returning from the local Co-op store when he was warned by a neighbour to hurry home after they saw a man on the street with a knife.

There is a heavy police presence on the Brandon Estate in Camberwell this morning following the stabbing at 8pm yesterday 

He said: ‘I was there when he was on the floor, trying to keep him awake.

‘His eyes were open but he was not blinking. I was trying to keep the flash there. I kept saying ‘wake up, wake up.’ I was just trying to help him. He was stabbed right there in the stomach.

‘I had just come from the Co-op and my neighbour was telling me he had seen somebody with a big knife. She said ‘hurry in and get in the house.’

‘I was just confused. I looked over and saw the commotion and I went to see what was going on – that’s when I saw him.

‘It was three or four minutes after, it was so fresh. There were neighbours there trying to press down the wound and doing CPR.

‘He was a good lad. He was in his own lane doing his own thing. He was very independent. Nobody wants to be at the end of the sword.’ 

Friends of the young victim huddled together by the police cordon in the rain. 

Any witnesses should call the police on 101 quoting reference CAD 4644/01OCT19 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.