A 12-year-old boy is recovering in hospital after being stabbed eight times in east London. The boy, who has not been named, was buying food from a takeaway chicken shop close to his flat in Falkirk Street in Hoxton on Tuesday night when he was attacked by a gang.
The boy collapsed and was helped by neighbours before being taken by ambulance to a hospital in central London. Police said his condition was serious but stable, with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
Officers are searching for a black male aged between 15 and 25 who fled the scene on foot.
The takeaway where the boy bought food, Hoxton Chicken and Pizza on Hoxton Street, is where 16-year-old Agnes Sina-Inakoju was fatally shot in April 2010 after being caught in the crossfire from a gang feud.
Local residents told the Evening Standard that the boy had been the victim of a turf war between gangs on rival estates and had been “in the wrong place, at the wrong time”. Police believe that the attack is related to another incident about half an hour earlier in Gorsuch Street, E2, in which a 19-year-old man was stabbed following a fight.
He suffered stab wounds to his hand and leg and remains in hospital. His injuries are not believed to be serious. The suspects for the attack are two black males, who had been part of a larger group chasing the victim. The pair fled the scene on bicycles.
No arrests have yet been made and detectives from the Trident Gang Crime Command are continuing to investigate.
There were 1,686 knife crimes with injuries recorded in London in the year to May 2015, up 23% compared with the previous 12 month period, according to figures issued by the mayor of London’s office.
