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Customer stabs shop owner to death
Benedict Moore-Bridger and Rashid Razaq01.07.08
A man has been stabbed to death during a dispute in his shop.
The latest victim of London's knife crime epidemic is believed to have been attacked by a customer he had confronted.
He was stabbed in the chest at about 10.30pm last night and died on the pavement half an hour later.
He is believed to be an Algerian who ran a sportswear business inside the Addis internet café in the Old Kent Road, near the Elephant and Castle.
A neighbouring shop owner said: "On one side there is an Ethiopian man who runs the internet café and the Algerian sells trainers and sports clothes.
"I've heard there was an argument between a Somali man and one of the Algerian men who works there. I'm not sure which one he is exactly as you get a lot of Algerian or North African men who hang out there."
Munsha Munsha, who lives in a flat four doors away, said the internet café is a family business run by an Ethiopian man and his wife who have two children aged about six and nine years old.
Mr Munsha, a bakery owner originally from Zambia, said: "The internet café is open quite late until midnight. I have been in there to do photocopying and use the net.
"They're all very friendly. You do get a lot of problems here with gangs and when the clubs close. I thought it must be something to do with that but this is quite shocking to see it happen inside a shop."
Fawad Karimi, 29, owner of G&F Supermarket yards from the crime scene, said an argument had flared between the two men. He told the Standard: "It was not a big fight, there was just two of them. We would have heard if it was a big fight because that happens quite a lot. The guy who attacked him was Somalian."
The victim, believed to be in his thirties, was found on the pavement outside. His attacker fled as he lay bleeding, while passersby called the emergency services.
A spokesman for London Ambulance Service said: "We were called to reports of a stabbing in Old Kent Road shortly before 10.30pm. Sadly, one person was pronounced dead at the scene."
Scotland Yard said they were now trying to identify the man, who was described as "North African".
A spokesman said: "We were called following reports of a man having been stabbed.
"A man aged in his thirties was discovered with a stab wound to his upper body. We are trying to establish the victim's identity and to inform next of kin."
Residents said the area was notorious for violence. One man, who asked not to be named, said fights were commonplace.
He said: "As soon as you go south of the river you get trouble. I don't walk out of my house without a stick to protect me. Nothing is more important than my life, I don't take any chances."
Officers from the Met's Homicide and Serious Crime Command are now investigating.
