Dead, boy of 16 caught up ‘in drugs turf war’

A TEENAGER died last night after being shot in an alleged turf war among drug dealers.

Amaan Shakoor, 16, was said to have been shot in the face by two hooded men on Monday night next to a secondary school in Walthamstow, East London.

Police said that he died in hospital at about 5.45pm yesterday.

Another boy caught up in the attack, aged 15, was in hospital after being stabbed in the arm twice, though his injuries were not life-threatening.

Local Labour MP Stella Creasy yesterday said police were re-introducing blanket ‘stop and search’ powers after the ‘horrific and distressing incident’.

Amaan was understood to have been with friends outside Walthamstow Leisure Centre when the attack happened at around 10pm on Monday.

Neighbours said they heard two shots about five seconds apart, but initially thought the noises were fireworks.

A witness yesterday told how he had been standing round the corner when ‘two boys, hooded up’ ran past him.

Damian Slay said: ‘They must have run up to them, stabbed one in the arm and faced the other one and just shot him in the face and run off.’

Highlighting how commonplace violence has become in the capital, the 17-year-old added: ‘I wasn’t startled because I’ve seen all of this before.’ Damian, a friend of the victim, said he believed the attack was because Amaan had ignored warnings from rival drug dealers to stay off their patch.

He said Amaan was a ‘nice guy’ with a ‘wrong side’ who had been threatened at gun point recently over dealing cocaine in the wrong area.

Last night relatives at Amaan’s family home, worth around £540,000, said his parents had been keeping vigil at their son’s hospital bedside.

His father Mohammed, 48, an administrative officer, and his mother Nusrat, who have four children, were born in Pakistan but moved to the UK before their son was born.

A neighbour said the teenager was ‘a good kid’ but had got involved with a ‘bad crowd’ over the past few years.

Families living near the crime scene said there were drug dealers operating in a nearby council estate while schoolchildren are often seen hanging around on bikes outside the leisure centre.

Father-of-two Min Win, 43, who has lived in the area for 15 years, said: ‘I heard a couple of gunshots around ten. One after each other, it was about five to six seconds from each other and I thought it was fireworks.

‘It’s quite scary, if that bullet came through my window, what are you going to say? This has never happened in this area before – we didn’t even realise why these police cars turned up.’

A 33-year-old mother-to-be, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It’s a sad reality across London, it’s unfortunate it seems to be rising and I’m surprised that it is in this area. There are quite a lot families here and I’m just really surprised.

‘It’s a nice, kind, family area, there are usually no problems.’

Writing on her Facebook page on Monday, Miss Creasy said: ‘Can confirm tonight we have had another serious incident involving shooting and stabbing. There may be a high visibility [police] presence through the day and night.’

‘It’s a sad reality across London’