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Man, 21, is killed in weekend of London stabbings
Rob Singh and Mark Blunden07.07.08
A man died today after being stabbed during another weekend of knifings in the capital.
The 21-year-old victim suffered wounds to the arm and chest following an argument in the early hours of this morning. Scotland Yard said they were called by the London Ambulance Service after paramedics found two men with injuries.
Police arrived at the scene in Durrant Street in Bethnal Green just after 3am. The victim was taken to the Royal London Hospital where he died an hour later. A spokesman for the Met said the other man, who is in 20s, was treated for head injuries. He was then arrested as part of the investigation after being discharged from hospital and is being questioned at an east London police station.
Only a day earlier a man was injured after being stabbed at a bus stop in Putney. The victim, in his twenties, was attacked while waiting for a bus at 5am in Putney Heath after getting into a fight with a youth carrying a knife.
Forensic teams have searched the area looking for clues and residents said they were now too scared to leave home after dark.
One resident, whose house overlooks the scene, said: "These things are happening everywhere now. There are so many knives around. Something like this happens every day. I am not too surprised and now I will not go on the train late at night.
"After 10pm I will take a taxi because I do not want to walk on the streets."
A Met spokesman said the victim was in a stable condition in hospital and two men have been arrested in connection with the attack. Both have been taken to a south London police station where they remain in custody.
He said: "We have nothing as regards to motive and no information on any suspects. No arrests have been made."
Police are also hunting a gang of teenagers after two security guards were stabbed while chasing a gang of suspected teenage shoplifters in the West End.
They were trying to catch eight boys who had allegedly stolen clothes from the Nike Town in Oxford Circus. Only one of the suspects produced a knife and was responsible for the injuries to both men who were stabbed outside the store.
The knifeman lost his T-shirt in the scuffle on Saturday evening and was last seen running shirtless up Oxford Street towards Tottenham Court Road.
One guard, 33, was treated in hospital for stab wounds to the left arm and lower back but has been discharged.
His colleague, 21, was treated at the scene after being knifed in the leg and another female guard, 22, was also punched in the face.
All eight of the suspects escaped despite blanket CCTV coverage of the West End.
Police say the gang are in their early to mid-teens and no arrests have been made.
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Reader views (13)
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There is something inherently wrong.
The same problem exists in other parts of the world.
Strong leadership and harsh punishment is definitely needed to stop this barbaric behaviour.
I believe, as Jo mentioned, the hip-hop junk that is spewed out these days topped with drugs is also playing a part in this.
I posted the comments below in another related article as I've followed this issue as it makes the news here in South Africa as well.
At 31 now with a son of 7, I can't imagine what the parents of the victims are going through.
Thousands of people leave SA fearing the safety of their kids and I am considering the same.
Unless someone takes a strong stance there now, it can easily become as nasty as it is here.
Living in South Africa is sheer hell these days as the crime is getting worse daily. Now we have to live in townhouse complexes with 8 foot walls, electric fences, 24 hour guards, armed guard patrols etc. as people here are shot/raped/robbed/assaulted at an alarming rate.
The problem in London needs to be nipped in the bud before those knives are exchanged for firearms as we have here.
The last thing you need is honest people having to carry weapons to protect themselves.
Good Luck
- Rakesh Singh, Johannesburg, South Africa
Lets face it,they need to be punished hard to learn. You can try so much but how many more killings can we take? We need hard punishment for them to learn. All this gangster rubbish is stupid and needs to end!
- Apprentice 2008, UK
I heard someone bragging about carrying a knife on the bus the other day and what excuses they could give if they were stopped by the police. They were absolutely convinced they could get away with it and here lies the problem! Tough law is what is needed. Parents involved - schools involved - jobs involved - naming and shaming involved (although unfortunately some will see this as cool, unless they are punished good and hard, all this behaviour should not be tolerated. Also there may be black on black crime but you only have to watch Panorama etc to see that youth crime all over the country is out of control - kicking someone's head in and beating them to death - all are equally bad. Society itself needs changing but it stems from the top and the politically correct crowd probably instigated things in the first place by stopping proper discipline. We had discipline when younger - I don't agree with child abuse and bullying but if you don't have the discipline then the bullying will stem from child to child instead of from adults.
- Jackie, London
