One boy is in a critical condition and another is seriously ill after four teenagers were stabbed on a south London housing estate. The incident happened close to where a drill rapper was stabbed to death earlier this month. The victims of the latest incident in Camberwell were between 15 and 16 years old. Meanwhile, six boys aged between 15 and 16 are in custody after being arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and grievous bodily harm.
A crime scene remained in place and detectives were being assisted by specialist officers to reassure worried locals. Witnesses said they heard a teenager crying "Help, help" before the quadruple stabbing outside Landor House on the Elmington Estate. One witness to the attack said: “There was a group of youths shouting at each other.“One had a big a** hunting knife and he was screaming ‘I want my belt back, I want my belt back’."“The knife was about 16 inches long.“I went back indoors because I assumed no one would get seriously hurt over a stupid belt.
“It actually looked like the knife from Rambo." One stunned resident said a two-foot blade was discovered yards from her flat. She said: “Where are they getting these knives? It was like a machete. The handle was black. There was blood on it. A group of boys were seen running minutes before police arrived on the estate after being called shortly before 5.25pm. "Four males, aged between 15 and 16 years, were found suffering from stab wounds, They were taken by London Ambulance Service to hospitals in south London, where one remains critical, one is in a serious but stable condition and the remaining two did not suffer serious injuries." Witnesses who saw the aftermath described at least one teenager who appeared to be seriously hurt.
"It was very traumatising," said a 25-year-old woman, who did not want to be identified. The crime scene which was littered with bloodied clothing, trainers and medical equipment is just a short walk from Warham Street, where 23-year-old drill rapper Sidique Kamara, also known as Incognito, was stabbed to death on August 1. A witness to the incident said he did not think any of those involved lived on the estate.
"Ten minutes before the stabbing I saw a whole heap of youths run down that way," said the man, who asked not to be named, indicating towards the crime scene. "Then 10 minutes later I heard people shouting and bawling out the back there. "When I looked around the back there, I saw the youth come running from the block. "He came to the corner and dropped"He was holding his belly and all of his intestines were falling on the ground.
He was lying on the ground screaming for his mum. It was mayhem.“I saw a person throwing what looked like a belt towards him as he just lay there, as if to say ‘here, have it then’.Another neighbour, who did not give her name, described seeing boys running on the grass opposite her flat shortly before the stabbing. "There were four or five black boys running. All of a sudden I could hear 'Help, help'," she said. "I had woke up and, as I did, I had seen the police running. "One of the police officers got a first aid bag and I saw one of the boys lying on the floor."Horrified witnesses saw two of the teens with "their stomachs cut open", as a boy who rushed to their aid shouted "I'll f***ing kill him" before being bundled into a police van.
In dramatic footage of medics battling to save them, a woman can be heard yelling: "Please save them, please".She adds: "Oh my god, what about his mum."Please, his poor mother, his poor mother.""What is wrong with you boys, what the f*** is wrong with you boys?"Can't you see your friends are dying? Fix up!"Please, where is the ambulance, please take this one please."Then one of the police were shouting ‘Knife! Knife!’ and about seven of them ran over to the car park.”A stained machete was found by cops as they combed the estate following the brutal fight.
As cops detain suspects nearby, she adds: "Your friends are dying and you keep f***ing up.““It was manic, it was completely manic, there were a lot of black boys shouting, screaming, you had neighbours worried because we didn’t know if we knew them.“We don’t know who’s who anymore. You don’t know who to trust."The victims are not thought to live on the estate but neighbours said a garden area concealed from view by the flats has become a hotbed for youths. A man, who did not give his name, said: “The lads hang around there all the time, it started at least six months ago.“Recently there have been more and more.“They are downstairs at the end of the block doing what boys normally do, shoving each other and messing about, but I don’t recognise any of them.”
Labour MP for Camberwell and Peckham Harriet Harman said she was very concerned by the latest stabbing and was in contact with police and councillors. Superintendent Annmarie Cowley said: "This incident is in its very early stages and at present, we cannot speculate on what the nature of it may be. "What we can say for certain is if there needed to be an example of the utter senselessness of knife crime, then this is it."