25

A fourteen year old boy has become the 25th teenage victim of violent crime in London this year. He was stabbed in the stomach on Saturday night in Hackney.

He died this morning.

His death comes less than a week after the murder of 18 year old Charles Junior Hendricks.

On 31st December last year, I wrote a blog entitled 25 Teenagers Who Died Before They Lived, which listed the 24 boys, and 1 girl, shot or stabbed in 2007. It's only August 31 and we've already equalled 2007's total.

The Metropolitan police are seeking witnesses to Saturday's murder: “Police were called at approximately 11.46pm on August 30 to St Thomas’s Place to reports of a male assaulted. The male, a 14-year-old boy, was taken to an east London hospital suffering a single stab wound to the stomach. He was pronounced dead at 8.12am on August 31. We believe we know the identity of the deceased but await formal identification before naming him. Next of kin have been informed. A post-mortem is scheduled to take place at midday on 1st September at the Royal London Hospital. It is believed that the two victims had been involved in an altercation with a group of youths prior to being assaulted. No arrests have been made.”

UPDATE: 01/09/08. The boy has today been identified as Shaquille Smith.