Popular youth worker caught between two feuding gun mobs
Gladesmore Community School last year to become a mentor at a Bruce Grove Youth Centre.
One fellow worker said: “Tanesha was very popular at the club. One of her roles was to teach the younger kids how to be good role models and lead positive lives.
“She got on with everyone and in turn everybody liked her. That is why she became a volunteer.
“We are devastated Tanesha has been taken from us like this.”
Local residents complained that gangs had been allowed to run riot in the area, openly dealing hard drugs and meting out violence to rivals. One young mother, who asked not to be named, said: “There’s a lot of shootings and stabbings that go on. It’s a dangerous area. “There is a postcode war, apparently, between Tottenham and [nearby] Wood Green. Some of these incidents are tit-for-tat.’ Det Chief Supt Richard Wood said: “At this stage we are keeping a completely open mind. “We do know that a vehicle drove past a group of young people, shots were fired from the vehicle, and sadly the young lady lost her life.”
Tanesha’s death came in a night of violence which also left a 16-yearold boy fighting for his life after being shot in the face in Walthamstow, east London, and a 15-year-old in hospital with stab wounds.
Four boys – two aged 16 and two aged 15 – appeared at Stratford Youth Court in east London yesterday charged with GBH.
Figures released over the weekend revealed that London’s murder rate has climbed above New York’s for the first time in years.
Scotland Yard is investigating 47 deaths this year alone. The number of killings in the capital has surged by nearly 40 per cent since 2014.