A tragic teenager exchanged heartfelt messages with his girlfriend just minutes before he was stabbed to death in a "truly shocking" attack near his school gates.
Khayri McLean, 15, who has been described as a "wonderful student" who ‘hated knives’, was struck as he walked home on Wednesday before his alleged attacker fled the scene, leaving his victim dying in a pool of blood.
The youngster was then taken by air ambulance to a trauma centre at Leeds General Infirmary, where he later died, reports the Mirror.
Following the traumatic event, a 16-year-old was arrested two miles away in the early hours of Thursday morning after armed police descended on his family home at 5am.
Today, Khayri’s distraught mum broke down in tears after she returned to the scene. His heartbroken girlfriend, Shyana James, 16, also shared how her “heart just shattered” when she was told the devastating news.
She revealed how she’d been chatting to him on Snapchat just moments before he was killed and was on his way home to change out of his uniform and meet her. He’d even sent her a picture of the spot where he was about to be fatally stabbed.
She sobbed: “He was the love of my life. We were talking about our future the other day. He was just the best person I knew.”
She told how she’d spoken to her boyfriend of six months via Snapchat at 2.52pm. “The last thing he said was I can’t wait to see you,” a tearful Shyana, who arrived wearing Khayri’s coat, said.
“He just told me how his day had been, he just said, ‘it’s been really good,’ and sent me a picture of him walking home, right by the bollards where he was killed.
“He would do anything for me, he would drop everything if I had something going on to be there.” On his Instagram, the victim, known as ‘Khay’ to some friends, had written about how it was important to do well at school and get good grades.
He said: “T - try to get ur right grades. R - right grades make what yu want in life and Y - you wish for all your dreams to come true.”
Shyana, who met Khayri at school but had recently moved to a different college in the city, said a friend called her to say she had seen him hurt outside school.
She then got a taxi to the scene and saw him lying on the pavement "with the ambulance and paramedics all around him".
Asked about what she thought of those who carry knives, Shyana said: “I hate it and Khayri hated it as well." The attack was witnessed by many of the school’s pupils who were walking home after the end of the day and have been left ‘traumatised.’
One youngster said: "He was a very popular guy. Never seen him without his friends and never seen him have an argument.
“I seen him laid on the floor there and one of my great teachers trying to help him. The amount of respect I have for that teacher is unbelievable, just for him to do that, he was the first person there trying to help him.
“Great student and a great kid and now he’s passed and he can’t see him mum no more and it’s just a shock. It’s traumatising. I’m staying close to home now just in case something happens to me.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night, I kept waking up. As soon as I heard the news that he’d died I burst into tears.”
His friend, also 12, said Khayri had shown around the school when he first started, said: “I’m traumatised. I just saw him lying on the floor and saw a teacher trying to give him chest compressions.
“He never did anything wrong to anybody.” The boys had visited the scene to lay flowers in memory of the tragic teen with their mums.
They are now being offered support by their school, which has 900 pupils and was closed for normal classes but is open to provide support to youngsters.
In a statement posted on the North Huddersfield Trust School website, head Andrew Fell said: “It is with enormous sadness that I must tell you that following an incident on Woodhouse Hill Road yesterday one of our pupils has tragically lost their life.
“The pupil was taken by ambulance to hospital after the incident but despite the most valiant of efforts, medical staff were unable to save their life.
“This is truly shocking news for our pupils, your children, and our staff. We will be providing specialist support for any among our community who feel they could benefit.”
“...Our deepest sympathies go out to the pupil’s family and friends who must feel, as we do, completely devastated. They have lost a loved one and we have lost a wonderful student from our school community.”
Senior investigating officer Detective Superintendent Marc Bowes said it was an “absolutely senseless loss of a young life".
Police on Thursday said the attack on Khayri is being treated as a “targeted incident”. They made the statement as they formally named the victim and released a picture on behalf of his family. Specialist detectives are involved in the murder investigation, they added.
Chief Superintendent James Griffiths, District Commander of Kirklees Police, said: “We full realise the concern Wednesday’s murder has caused in communities, and I want to reassure residents everything possible is being done to investigate what took place.
“Officers have been conducting reassurance patrols in the local area with support from the force’s specialist Operation Jemlock team and I can promise that all necessary resources from across the force are being employed in this investigation.”
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