Teenager dies and two hurt in knife attack

Published on Saturday 5 January 2008 19:28

A TEENAGE boy has been stabbed to death and two others injured in an attack outside a block of flats in Kent.

Police responded to reports of a stabbing in Erith at around 3am yesterday morning and found the three injured youths, all thought to be in their mid to late teens.

Scotland Yard said all had stab wounds and that one of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene, while the others were taken to the Royal London Hospital.

One of the two injured youths is still in hospital in a serious and stable condition but the other has been discharged.

The attack followed the death of

17-year-old Henry Bolombi, who was stabbed in Edmonton, north London, on New Year's Day after celebrating in the capital.

Police forensic teams were searching the flat in a 15-storey high-rise block.

Officers carried out a fingertip search of grassland in front of the block, one of seven on the sprawling council estate.

Locals described the building as a condemned tower, saying plans to demolish it were abandoned in recent years.

"It's such a lowlife area," said a woman in her twenties, who did not wish to be named.

"It's the gangland of Erith. That's the worst block in the whole estate. They were going to knock it down but never did."

Another resident, a man in his twenties, described returning home early in the morning to find five police cars and an ambulance parked outside the block. He said he wasn't surprised at the killing: "There's always attacks round here."

Residents talked of a gang known as RA, or Rebel Assault, terrorising the neighbourhood. One said: "They are just a big bunch of lads who go around raising hell."

Norman Brennan of the Victims of Crime Trust and Knives Destroy Lives Campaign said: "Another child's life has tragically been cut short as a result of knife crime."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said:

"We believe the incident happened following an altercation with a suspect or suspects who then left the flat. We have no further details at this early stage."