Latest victim was friends with girl shot dead days ago
THE latest victim of London’s wave of violence was friends online with a teenage girl shot dead two days earlier, it emerged yesterday. Computer programming student Israel Ogunsola, 18, had been cycling to meet friends on Wednesday when he was stabbed to death in Hackney, East London.
Israel’s Facebook profile shows he was a friend of Tanesha Melbourne, 17, who was killed in a shooting on Monday in Tottenham, North London.
Local gang NPK, short for Northumberland Park Killers, last night appeared to claim responsibility for the drive-by shooting of Tanesha.
A post on the internet site Instagram referring to the teenager’s death contained the message: ‘If your [sic] chillin [relaxing] with my ops [enemies] I ain’t gonna adjust my aim for you.’
The message was signed off with an #NPK hashtag, appearing to suggest the teenager was caught up in gang warfare.
Yesterday Israel’s father Dele, 55, called for police to bring back stop and searches to end the bloodshed in the capital.
Police said it was too early to say whether Israel and Tanesha’s deaths were linked.
His father Dele Ogunsola, 55, demanded that the ‘bloodshed must stop’. He said: ‘My son was a well brought-up boy who respected everyone.
‘ Young people are being slaughtered every day. If it means bringing back more stop and search, then so be it. We have to tackle this problem and the Government needs to do more. Young people are being slaughtered every day.
‘He went out on his bike and never came back.’ His son, known as Izzy, was one of two men who died in separate attacks a mile apart in on Wednesday. Two boys, both aged 17, have been arrested on suspicion of murdering Israel.
A family friend claimed Israel had been stabbed five times on New Year’s Eve when he was caught up in an attack in which a 20-year-old was killed. They said: ‘I would not have let him out the house if it were my son. He nearly died. They had to save his life. I cannot believe that this has happened to him, that stabbing was a warning and now he is dead.’
One friend described seeing Israel’s mother break down as she was told the news. They said: ‘Israel’s mother was coming home from work and saw everyone outside the door crying. She started screaming and her big son came up to her and said, “Mum, I’ve got something to tell you,” and she knew and she broke down and cried.’
At the time of his death Israel was on bail for attacking a police officer, who had to be taken to hospital with a head injury. He had admitted causing actual bodily harm, dangerous driving without a licence, having no insurance and being in possession of cannabis after the incident in Stevenage in November.
A friend said Israel had been a student at Hertfordshire University but recently returned to London to live with his parents.
A former classmate at Hackney’s City Academy said: ‘It’s the norm being part of gang activity, what do you expect to happen, he was involved in that sort of thing. This is like the purge, it’s like a postcode war. There are so many gangs.’
Hours before Israel’s death, a 53-year-old man died after an attack outside a betting shop in Clapton. Last night there were six more stabbing victims, aged from 13 to 21, after five incidents across the capital. Three of the injuries were serious.
‘More stop and search’