A 14-year-old boy was fighting for his life on Monday after becoming the latest teenage stabbing victim in London.
The boy, who has not been named, was found wounded by officers after they were called to reports of a stabbing in Crystal Palace just after 5pm on Sunday.
He was found with stab injuries at the junction of Crystal Palace Parade and Anerley Hill and taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The scene of the crime was cordoned off as police began their investigation into what happened.
The Met said no arrests had been made yet and appealed for witnesses and any other information about the attack.
The new stabbing came as police in London and the rest of the country began the latest phase of Operation Sceptre, a nationwide anti-knife crime crackdown, and was followed hours later by the stabbing of a man in his late 40s in Thamesmead.
The man was found by police injured on Bentham Road and taken to hospital but Scotland Yard said his injuries were not life threatening.
The stabbing of the 14-year-old will, however, prompt renewed concern about serious youth violence in the capital and follows the loss of two teenage lives in knife killings earlier this month.
Police described the incident as a “brutal attack” that took place “near a school and was witnessed by many bystanders and young people”. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder.
The second teenage knife fatality this month occurred only hours later when 18-year-old Jordan Kukaba died after being found by police near to Dagenham Heathway Underground Station shortly before midnight on 5 May.
Officers had been called to reports of men armed with machetes and although they and ambulance staff tried to save Mr Kukaba’s life, he died at the scene. A post-mortem found that a single stab wound to the chest was the cause of his death. Three boys, aged 15, 16 and 17, and Michael Tommy-Mgagba, 20, from Essex, have been charged with his murder.
Meanwhile, detectives are still investigating the fatal stabbing last Wednesday of 29-year-old Alex Josephs who was found by police and ambulance staff with knife wounds inside his grey BMW just before 2pm on Malyons Road in Ladywell.
Police, who have released four men arrested in the wake of the killing, said the crime was a “shocking incident” seen by a large number of witnesses that had left the victim’s family “reeling” from “losing their loved one in such a violent way”.
