04/07/2008

Another Teen Loses His Life In London Knife Attack

A teenager has died after being stabbed in a street attack in south London.

Shakilus Townsend is the latest victim in the knife epidemic that is sweeping London.

The 16-year-old victim suffered multiple knife wounds, though as yet, no weapon has been recovered from the scene.

It is reported that that he was stabbed several times to the upper body.

Police were called to Beulah Crescent, Thornton Heath, shortly before 2pm on Thursday.

One person, Dee Bamina, 35, who tried to stem the bleeding from the boy's chest with a bath towel after a neighbour brought him to the communal doorway of her block of flats reported that Shakilus said - as he was lying wounded: "I don't want to die" and "where's my mum, I want my mum".

A spokesman for London Ambulance Service said: "We sent a fast response car, an ambulance and the air ambulance to the scene."

The boy was later taken to hospital by road after being treated at the scene.

It is reported that he died shortly after midnight.

Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons said it was "another senseless incident in which a young life has been taken away by a knife".

It is reported that a gang of four or five youths, aged 15-19, with scarves covering their faces, were seen around or after the time of the stabbing.

The attack comes a week which has seen a spate of stabbings in the city.

On Sunday, Ben Kinsella fell victim to a violent stabbing in Islington.

Later that day the bodies of French students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were found with more that 240 stab wounds after a blaze at a building in New Cross, south-east London.

On Monday, Hamouda Bessaad, of Tunisian origin, was stabbed to death on Old Kent Road and Dee Willis, 28, died after a knife attack in Peckham on Tuesday.

He is the 18th teenager to die as a result of violence in the capital.

See: Teenagers Released On Bail After Stab Death

French Students Suffered 'Horrific' Deaths

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