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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Barney Davis and Anthony France

Kacey Boothe: 25-year-old shot dead outside baby’s birthday party in Walthamstow

This is the first picture of a young man gunned down outside a toddler’s first birthday party at a community centre in Walthamstow.

Kacey Boothe, 25, was killed in what police described as a “targeted attack” witnessed by horrified revellers.

The gunman fled from The Peterhouse Church and Community Centre in Forest Rise just before 9.30pm on Saturday.

Mr Boothe was taken to hospital in a private vehicle but later died - the fourth victim of a fatal shooting in London since July 19.

There had been no deadly gun attacks in the previous nine-month period.

A spokesman for St Peter’s-in-the-Forest Church, owners of the party venue, said: “We are shocked and saddened.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected and with the police as they continue with their investigations.”

Police are looking to break down a wall of silence with many partygoers believed to have witnessed the fatal shooting. Mr Boothe was blasted as guests exited the building.

Meanwhile, detectives are continuing to question a man after a 60-year-old chef was stabbed to death inside a restaurant near Oxford Street.

Armed police descended as fighting between the pair started outside Korean diner Arirang in Poland Street at midday on Monday.

Video footage showed a man - described as “calm and collected” - being arrested at the scene in Soho, off Europe’s busiest shopping street.

Scotland Yard said the victim and suspect were known to each other.

Witnesses described two men shouting at each other outside the business in front of horrified tourists and shoppers before the argument moved inside.

It was the fourth killing in the capital in just three days, taking 2022’s toll to 57 homicides, compared with 79 by August 16 last year.

A witness said: “I saw the police arrive, it was flooded with cops around here.

“I was told two chefs or at least two guys from restaurants were involved in a fight and one was stabbed.”

A builder working next door to the restaurant added: “There was shouting then it escalated to a full blown row, there was a weapon and then someone fell to the ground.”

Another witness said: “I saw them start shouting at each but I didn’t know what they were saying.

“They then went back into the restaurant where I think one of them must have grabbed a knife from the kitchen.”

A worker at a pub on Poland Street spoke of seeing “police everywhere”, adding: “A bloke was arrested, he was calm, quite placid. They cuffed him and took him off.”

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