An 18-year-old man has been knifed to death after being chased by thugs through an east London estate in broad daylight.
The victim, named locally as Santino, died at the scene after being attacked at about 3.30pm yesterday.
He is the 18th teenager to be murdered in the capital so far this year — and the fourth to be killed in just 15 days.
This morning Santino’s father, mother and younger brother laid flowers at the scene in the Chadd Green estate, Plaistow.
His father said: “My son, he did nothing. He was just 18 years old, a baby.
“Everybody is saying they are sorry to me, but it is my son who will be in the ground.”
Witnesses told how the victim was chased through the estate before being left for dead by his killers outside a row of terraced houses.
Terry Eddis, 73, added: “I saw a police car tearing into the road and three officers ran over to where the boy was lying on the ground.
“I saw them giving him CPR, and there was a drip next to him.”
Mr Eddis added: “He didn’t look very old, he just looked like a child.”
Scotland Yard said a post-mortem will be arranged in due course. There have been no arrests so far.
Meanwhile, officers were today quizzing a 35-year-old man over the murder of company director Allan Isichei, 69, who was stabbed in the stomach in St Mary’s Avenue, Southall, as he returned home from the pub at 6.40pm on Saturday.
His 92-year-old mother paid tribute to her “darling son” and said he had called her hours before his death to arrange to take her out for lunch the following day.
