THE CAPITAL CONTINUES to clock up the killings. The toll for 2018 was already at 50 – but two deaths in Hackney yesterday, 4th April – have added to the misery of their loved ones and worried anxious parents across London.
•The first to die was a man in his 50s in Clapton, Hackney. Details are not clear yet, but it seems that he and another man were involved in a fight in a bookies at around 4.30pm – and he ended up fatally wounded while the other man left the area. Paramedics battled to save him, but he died at the scene.
•The second to die was a man in his 20s. He had been stabbed and managed to attract the attention of two police officers on patrol in Hackney at around 8pm. They gave him first aid and called an ambulance, but he died shortly afterwards, at the scene.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has been criticised for blaming social media for the high rate of killings in London this year, but her words have been echoed by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick – whose view was that young people could escalate an argument over a trivial issue within minutes and then organise an encounter to settle the dispute or organise an attack which was bound to lead to serious injury or death.
Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville tweeted his condolences last night to the families and friends of those killed. He also admitted that social media seemed to be a factor in the killings: along with cuts in police funding, it was a major factor in the complex reasons for high levels of violence.
On a London level, Sadiq Khan’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Sophie Linden, promised that City Hall would get on top of the problem.
•Read more about it: Badru murder: police offer reward More arrests in the Chadwell Heath murder case
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