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Wielding a knife and posing with a gun, the murdered teenager 'led to his death by a honeytrap'
Last updated at 01:22am on 07.07.08
Friends of murdered 16-year-old Shakilus Townsend have posted pictures on the internet showing him wielding a knife and posing with a gun.
In an indication of his gang connections, the teenager was described as a ‘fallen soldier’ and there were vows to avenge his killing.
The images were released as a man and four teenagers – including a girl – were arrested over the murder.
Shakilus Townsend poses with a knife and a gun in pictures friends posted on an internet networking site created to 'honour' the 'fallen soldier'
Detectives believe Shakilus could have been lured to his death in a honeytrap operation by a teenage girl who exchanged text messages with him arranging to meet.
His killers, their faces masked with bandanas, lay in wait and set upon him, stabbing, punching, kicking and hitting him with a baseball bat.
Police have described the murder as ‘clearly planned and targeted’.
Shakilus is the 18th teenage murder victim in London so far this year and the 33rd in Britain.
The attack took place in daylight on Thursday afternoon at an entrance to a block of flats in Thornton Heath, South London.
Mother- of-four Sharon Simpson, who lives near the scene, chased off his attackers and desperately tried to save him as Shakilus cried out for his mother.
He was taken to hospital but died of his injuries on Friday morning.
A friend of Shakilus who paid tribute to him on the networking site Bebo issued a warning to the girl who lured him to his death.
Calling himself YungahJKid, he wrote: ‘REMEMBER U SET UP SHAK YOU BITCH. AND HE LUVED YOOOOH. YOU IZ F****D!’
The 16-year-old makes what is thought to be a gang sign
In a terrifying reflection of how knife and gun crime has gripped Britain’s young communities, he also advises that you should always carry a weapon with you, writing: ‘RIDE WIV A WEAPON, NEVA FIST FIGHT.’
Pictures on the website show Shakilus, from Deptford, brandishing the knife and gun as well as making gangstyle gestures with his hands.
A 16-year-old girl was among four teenagers arrested in connection with the murder over the weekend. She and the boys, aged 16, 17 and 18, are being held in custody at various South London police stations.
A 22-year-old man is also being held. One of suspects was arrested at 9pm on Saturday and the rest were detained yesterday morning.
Floral tributes and cards have been left at the blood-stained scene where Shakilus died.
His parents Nicola and Derek, who are separated, and other relatives have visited the scene.
His stepmother, who would not be named, has called for violent teenage criminals to be sent to Iraq.
She said: ‘There’s no punishment and that’s why the children do what they do.
‘We as parents are very angry because nothing is being done and every single day we’re burying a child. When these youths commit these crimes they must be sent to Iraq.’
She claimed the 75 extra Metropolitan officers deployed to tackle knife crime were merely ‘a drop in the ocean’.
There were a string of stabbings across the country over the weekend.
A man in his 20s was in a serious but stable condition after being attacked as he stood at a bus stop in Putney Heath, South West London at 5am yesterday.
On Saturday, two security guards were stabbed as they tried to stop shoplifters fleeing from the Nike Town store on Oxford Street in central London at about 7pm.
A female security guard was punched in the face in the scuffle.
A 19-year-old man was recovering in hospital after he was stabbed in the stomach on a housing estate in Wallasey, Merseyside, on Friday night.
Another 19-year-old was in a critical condition after being involved in a suspected stabbing in Sheffield at around 2.30am on Saturday.
In Southend-on-Sea, a man aged 25 was stabbed in the face by two youths while he waited in a taxi queue at 4am on Saturday.
He received treatment to cuts to his lips and ear.
And in Wolverhampton, an 18-yearold youth suffered several stab wounds yesterday during a fight involving more than ten men in a car park.
Reader views (27)
Its the next generation you have got to worry about. Everyone from 9 upwards are growing up with this the normal life for em... give em 10 years and it will be 10 times worse. The UK is screwed!
- N W, Clacton
Mic, bromley, kent
How ridiculous comparing football mobs to these social parasites destroying our city.
I could spend years writing how stupid that comment is but instead i'll sum up...
More people were killed in street violence over this weekend than have been killed at football in the past decade.
- Lb, London
Welcome to the real world, London & the U.K.! This is just the start of a long hard road. Cast your minds back to the sixties, when the various gangs from East London and beyond ruled the streets by fear and weapons. This is just the modern day version of thuggery at it's worst. Young people, be you Black, Asian, or White, have no regard for life. Sadly, parents often know what's going on, they have all the signs, and ask no questions. Black on Black crime is going to continue spiral through the roof. Fed by the culture and music that is pumped out of a system that get's fat and rich at the expense of children's lives. Prisons just make you better at your craft, a great place to build your social networking of like minded people. What's the answer? Anyone out there got any ideas? It is not cool to kill, we all know it, but it's a case of dog eat dog. Every community has to come together, work with the police, schools, youth groups, right down to individuals. Maybe there's a chance things can be turned around, or controlled. Remember, humans live in a zoo called "the World" We all have to be Zoo Keepers! All of us have a part to play!
- Big D Nyc, NYC, USA
Old saying... they that live by the sword shall die by the sword
- Danny, Victoria Canada
They should put on his gravestone, "chose to live by the knife, and died by it". The grief his parents are suffering is of his making, or if not his, their own. Sad but true, and will always be so.
- Nigel, London
Fallen soldier of what, exactly? "Freedom fighting" in the capital of one of the world's most affluent economies..? Give me strength!
Why aren't we teaching some framework of ethics and respect for human life in schools, if that's the only place our culture stands a chance of reaching their minds? It doesn't have to have any religious basis (some will get this at home). I know teachers have enough on their plates, but it seems deeply ironic that in an age when kids are falling over themselves to study media and the like (perceiving it to be glamorous - if only they knew!), they seem completely unable to communicate with each other, or adults, by means of a DIALOGUE.
- Karli, Tottenham London
It's the standard of spelling and grammar on those social networking sites that is truly criminal.
- Keith, King's Cross
Build extra prisons and minimum 15 Years for carrying a knife unless you can prove you need this for your work. Oh and also "No Parole"
- Norman Small, edgware, middlesex
Sad but true: he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.
- James, London
Why not ask the right questions? Why are our young people locked into gangland territorialism? Why do these young people not feel invested in their communities, their country and their future? I saw this in South Africa in the eighties. I saw one community answer these questions and two ganglands died.
- Maria, London
Its a shame that the UK has come down to this and the Government in largely to Blame. The police can only do there job and catch the killers and gangsters but the law lords never seem to match this with the punishment.
If you are caught with a knife, you should go to prison no ifs no buts. A couple of years inside and you should start seeing an improvement.
- Faraz Virmani, United Kingdom
I can only imagine that Judith C, Mic and Steven Brenet aren't parents? Because no matter what you think - it could be your child lying there one day!
This was a young lad, living in a culture of violence and whilst he thought he was tough found he wasn't. A vicious attack has left another 'victim' dead. And YES he was a victim as was his killers, a victim of what is becoming a lawless society due to the lack of government funding for policing and tackling perpetrators of crime effectively.
So if and when you have children, remember your comments when you look at them and imagine them (at the start of their adulthood) lying in a street, bleeding to death, crying for their mother and telling a stranger trying to save them that they 'don't want to die'.
You are no better than those who carried out the crime!
And this is part of the reason for such crimes because of such attitudes - I presume you live by the motto of 'don't get involved' as well!
- Janey C, Inverness, Scotland
Why on earth would you send them to Iraq. Our forces in Iraq are professional soldiers, why would they want these idiots with them?
I have no sympathy for this teenager, and it's hard to understand why the parents mention "75 extra met police offers" a drop in the ocean. Stop blaming the world and start looking at yourselves. You brought these kids up as animals, they are dying like animals, killing like animals - you should be ashamed of yourselves. The black community in London needs to wake up to the problem they have - ask yourselves the question, why are so many of these knife crimes being committed by black children? It is completely out of proportion to their % make up of the population. This is not racism, this is reality.
- Mark, Gibraltar
Sad that any death is, it really is time that parents took some responsibility. Why did this boy think that posing with a knife and gun was ok? Because he had no positive influences in his life so he would not have posed like that. It really is time that parents took responsibility - until that happens nothing will change and eventually people will be disinterested in the problem.
- Kh, London UK
The parents will blame the police for their own bad parenting.
- Ben, London, UK
Why does this not surprise me. Just goes to show how many parents know their children. Or perhaps they don't care as long as they are bringing home the nice jewellery and money from their little forays.
- Louie, London
He got what was coming to him then.
- Judith C, London
A Child is "Dead" - not a particularly nice position to be in.
Posing with knives and gun's - Stupid: Totally!
"Deport them" - where to exactly?
"ethnic tribal groups fighting each other" I guarentee you, unless something is done, this is not exclusive to any particular group. No community has a monopoly on Thugishness - e.g. football etc comes to mind.
"violent teenage criminals to be sent to Iraq" now there's someone thinking about things. What a good idea!
These Kids/thugs need to understand that they will face very tangible consequences for violent behaviour. Punishments that actually mean something. The thought of being sent to the Iraq/Afghanistan might just make these kids think again. More so than a cosy prison cell methinks
- Mic, bromley, kent
"He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword".... have no sympathy for any of these gang members....
- Steve Brenet, London
Looks like another one of those "nice quiet lads", and as for being a "fallen soldier", kids like this wouldn't last 5 minutes in the army.
- P Staker, London
Tough on crime etc, etc... #5248.
- Gary, wycombe
The wannabe gangsters that see these pictures will probably draw the conclusion that, had Shakilus carried the gun and knife shown, he would be alive today.
- Austen, London
The elephant is in the room and every one ignores it, I wonder why.
stop and search is the answer but then who will be the first to complain that the UK police are racist.
- Jane, Tower Hamlets, England.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
- Jimbob, Kensington
The main problem in London are ethnic tribal groups fighting each other over some street or estate. Deport those you can and lock-up those you can't and get some real old-fashioned police on the streets.
- Frederick, London
Posing with a gun and knife making gang signs, but he was still crying for his Mummy just before he died .. I think there is a lesson in that for this generation of mikey mouse gangsters.
- Scott, London
What a tragic loss. How long before all these moronic gangsters have killed all of each other and our streets are clean again? 16 year old kids too stupid to know their own telephone numbers posing with guns, wielding knives.
- Squiz, Islington
