This is the first picture of a teenager shot dead in a “targeted hit” near a nursery and primary school in north London.
Neighbours tried to help Taylor Cox, 19, who suffered a head injury on Hornsey Rise Gardens, Crouch Hill.
Police were called at 4.24pm on Tuesday to reports of multiple gunshots.
The shooting took place just 100m away from Hornsey Day Nursery and nearby Ashmount Primary School.
The Met said Taylor’s family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers. A post mortem will be held in due course.
Detective Chief Inspector Linda Bradley, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, who is leading the investigation, said: “We’re working with colleagues across the Metropolitan Police Service to identify those responsible for this most horrific attack, committed with a firearm in broad daylight in a residential area next to a primary school.
“Taylor’s family have lost him in the cruellest way imaginable and they deserve our fullest commitment in seeking justice.
“I have no doubt that there are persons out there who know who committed this act and I’m asking them to make contact with us.
“What matters most is that you tell us what you know, and we find those responsible.”
A witness said the victim had been “ambushed” and blasted with at least three rounds in an alley next to the school.
She told the Standard: “There was no argument or anything like that. I just heard the boy who was shot say one word but I couldn’t work out what it was.
“Then I heard ‘bang, bang’ gunshots very close together. Then a gap and one or two more shots as if they were making sure they finished him off. It looked like a targeted hit. The shooters ran off down the alley. It was like something out of a movie.”
The witness added: “I had to run for cover. My friend on the phone heard the shots and told me to run.”
A 19-year-old man arrested on suspicion of being in possession of an offensive was later charged will appear in court on Thursday, June 10. His arrest is not being treated as linked to the murder.
There have been no further arrests.
Taylor is the 15th teenager killed so far this year, equalling the number in 2020 and putting London on course to overtake the figure of 26 from 2019.
Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting Op TREWEN and CAD 5570/08JUN21, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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