Boy, 17, stabbed to death in ambush during gang feud
A TEENAGER has been murdered in a ‘cowardly’ stabbing just months after his father warned repeatedly online against the dangers of gang violence.
In what is thought to have been a feud between rival gangs, the 17-year-old victim was knifed in a ‘ targeted attack’ by two cyclists yards from his family home.
Witnesses said four or five men then jumped out of a van and joined the assault, attacking him with ‘bottles and knives’, before fleeing the scene.
Their victim, named locally as Tavis Spencer Aitkens, had jokingly called himself ‘a full time gangsta’ on Facebook.
He is thought to have been stabbed in the neck, chest and leg.
Yesterday, friends described him as havhis ing been ‘ caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time’ between two gangs in Ipswich, Suffolk.
But the killing came just months after his father, Neville Aitkens, 53, spoke out against gangs in a series of Facebook posts.
He tagged his son in one video on April 2 entitled ‘Black funeral director tells the truth’, in which an American undertaker discusses the futility of gang murders. Mr Aitkens added a comment to the video, saying: ‘This is for all the young ones who want to be in the gang. Watch and gain knowledge.’
Two days later he shared a video of a woman lamenting how bereaved families were organising funerals for their children following a spate of gang killings in London.
A similar clip was captioned: ‘Please lets [sic] stop these killings.’
Police said the ‘horrendous crime’ was carried out as Tavis returned to family home at 4.50pm on Saturday. Paramedics tried to save his life at the scene, but he was declared dead at Ipswich Hospital. A 41-year- old man who was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of murder is still being questioned by police.
Friends and family put floral tributes by a police cordon outside Tavis’s home yesterday.
Marcus Padmore, 16, who had known him since primary school, said: ‘He was the nicest guy. I wasn’t aware that he was involved in any trouble.
‘He left school last year. He had a flat, but spent most of his time here because that is where his friends and family are.’
One resident said Tavis had also been stabbed before, adding: ‘It looks like they came back to finish the job.’
But schoolfriend Jordan Cox, 16, said it may have been a case of mistaken identity. He said: ‘There are two gangs, but one innocent person got taken out.
‘I’m guessing the wrong person got it, and it was him.’