Innocent teenager set for law degree is shot dead ‘by mistake’

Abdulkarim Boudiaf, 18, was killed by a single gunshot to the neck in Tottenham on Saturday night. The teenager, whose family came to Britain from Algeria, was with a group of youths outside the Elmhurst pub in Broadwater Road.

He is the fifth teenager to be killed in London this year. Last year 28 teenagers died from knife and gun crime in the capital. Earlier in the weekend another teenager was stabbed to death in Walthamstow.

The latest killings came amid hopes of a lessening in the violence, with politicians including Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and London Mayor Boris Johnson claiming success in tackling gang culture.

Mr Boudiaf was shot dead at about 10.20 when the pub was packed with drinkers at a disco night.
Paramedics tried to give him emergency surgery on the pavement but could not save him and pronounced him dead at the scene.

Friends of Mr Boudiaf, who finished his A-levels last summer, said he was working part-time in a shop and looking forward to starting a law degree at Northampton University in September.

Cleon Reis, 23, said he did not know why anyone would want to kill Mr Boudiaf and believed he may have been a victim of mistaken identity.

He said: "The killer must have thought he was someone else. He's made his mistakes but he didn't do anything to deserve this. He was a friendly person, always joking about everything."

Known as Karim to his friends, the Arsenal fan attended White Hart Lane secondary school before going to Waltham Forest College.

Mourners gathered at the family home, close to the scene of the shooting, yesterday where his father, Nouredine, and sister Yasmine, 21, a community worker, were being comforted by friends and relatives.

A friend of the Boudiaf family, Mehdi Yahiaoui, 56, said: "I'm personally really destroyed. There is no excuse for what they did to him. They have destroyed his family." Sami Guenez, 41, said: "I have known him since he was a little boy. It's terrible, I can't believe it. No one knows why it happened."

Detectives today appealed for witnesses to come forward. Police sources said there was no evidence that Mr Boudiaf was involved in a gang. They said one possibility was that he was shot at random or was the victim of mistaken identity.

Anyone with information about the shooting should call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Another 18-year-old, Wahab Zaaki, was stabbed to death in Walthamstow on Friday night. Wahab, known as "Killah", suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack behind a block of flats in Shernhall Street.