‘Fun-loving’ boy, 15, shot and knifed to death in daylight
A BOY aged 15 was killed after he was set upon by a gang in the street outside his family home.
Keon Lincoln was reportedly shot and then stabbed multiple times in the ‘brutal’ daylight attack.
A boy aged 14 has been arrested on suspicion of murder while police are hunting five or six others believed to be involved who left the scene in a car with cloned number plates.
Keon, who lived with his mother, a school cleaner, and siblings in Linwood Road in the Handsworth area of Birmingham was attacked just after 3.30pm on Thursday.
Neighbours reported hearing gun shots before the gang fled in a Ford C Max which was found abandoned after crashing into a garden two miles away.
Distressing pictures show Keon receiving medical treatment from a team of paramedics in the street before he was taken away on a stretcher.
He died shortly after arriving at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. His mother was said to be ‘inconsolable’ over the loss of her ‘ beloved son’. In a statement, Keon’s family described his death as ‘senseless’.
‘Keon was a fun-loving 15-yearold who was full of life and love for his family and friends,’ they said. ‘He had an infectious laugh that lit up the room.’
Detectives have appealed for information and CCTV or dash cam footage. They said the key to finding the attackers lay within the community. Detecwas tive chief inspector Alastair Orencas, from West Midlands Police, said: ‘We are determined to apprehend those responsible for his death, so I would personally appeal to anyone who is withholding information out of misguided loyalty to come forward.’
He added: ‘This level of violence in broad daylight on a residential street is inconceivable, let alone the fact that the target
a 15-year-old boy. I ask anyone who knows who they are to contact us.
‘The family of the boy has had the worst shock imaginable and we have specialist officers with them in their time of grief.’
Neighbours told of their shock yesterday. One family friend, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘ He got shot first and then they stabbed him quite a few times.
‘He’s just a young boy and hasn’t gone anywhere in life yet and his life is gone.
‘I feel for the mother because she’s a lovely person... it happened outside her own house.
Zuzanna Wozinak, 21, said: ‘You just cannot fathom that people that young can be involved in something this horrifically violent. It is the stuff of nightmares, of gangster movies. It’s terrifying.
‘The violence seems to be getting worse on our streets - it is becoming lawless around here.’
Another neighbour said: ‘It’s just terribly sad, and he’s so young being 15-years- old. But this road is full of drug dealers, the police know it but they don’t do anything about it.
‘It’s about time they did something and sorted it out.’
The West Midlands knife crime rate is second only to London. In the year to March there were 3,437 offences involving a blade in the area.
A post mortem examination was due to take place yesterday.
Local Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, described the death as ‘extremely tragic’. He said: ‘We must work with police as much as we can to stop this happening again’.
Chief Superintendent Ian Green also appealed for information. In a tweet, he said: ‘People will know who did this! 15 years old... a child... please – no one deserves to be defended or covered for this.’
‘Mother is inconsolable’