New teenage knife crime fatality in south London: police
LONDON (AFP) — A 16-year-old boy who was stabbed in south London has died of his injuries, police said Friday, taking the number of teenagers killed in the British capital this year to 18.
The youth, identified by police as Shakilus Townsend, was critically injured on Thursday afternoon. The 17th victim, also a 16-year-old boy, was fatally stabbed in north London early Sunday.
Three teenagers -- two aged 18 and a third aged 19 -- are due in court later Friday charged with the murder last weekend.
Townsend is the 13th teenager to be stabbed to death this year. He was pronounced dead in hospital after being taken there from the doorway to a block of flats.
Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons, leading the murder hunt, said: "This is another senseless incident in which a young life has been taken away by a knife."
His death came in a grim week for such murders. On Sunday evening, two French exchange students were found tied-up and stabbed to death in a southeast London apartment that had been set on fire.
On Monday, a 34-year-old Tunisian national was stabbed to death and a 28-year-old woman died after a knife attack on Tuesday. Both were killed in southeast London.
The rising death toll and an apparently growing knife culture among children and young people in London is causing increasing concern, despite police assurances that violent crime is falling in the capital.
London Mayor Boris Johnson and Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair have vowed to tackle the problem, while the government is pumping money into advertising campaigns and initiatives to curb the use of knives.
