Girl, 17, shot dead in ‘senseless’ drive-by attack

● Teen thought to be gang war victim ● Spike in London murder inquiries

A 17-year-old girl has been shot dead in a “terrible” driveby attack as she sat chatting with friends.

Teenager Tanesha Melbourne was gunned down in Chalgrove Road in Tottenham, north London, shortly before 9:30pm on Monday. She is believed to be a tragic casualty of a gang war.

Her mother, who watched her daughter’s life slip away, laid flowers at the scene yesterday, with a card reading: “To my baby Nesha. I’m gonna miss you so much. You’re always gonna be with me everywhere I go.”

Schoolfriend Candice Hassan, 17, said Tanesha was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”. “Everyone knows Tanesha, she’s just a humble girl,” she said. “It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn’t deserve any of that.”

Detective Chief Superintendent

0 Forensics officers search Chalgrove Road in Tottenham in the wake of a drive-by shooting Richard Wood, head of Scotland Yard’s murder squad, said investigators were keeping an open mind as to motive.

He said: “It was a terrible attack in which this young lady has lost her life. At this stage, we’re keeping a completely open mind. It’s too early to say what the motive is or indeed if it’s just a case of wrong place, wrong time.

“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.” A woman who knew the murdered girl said the victim was “just chilling with her friends” when she was shot from a car for “no reason at all”. She said the girl’s mother arrived before paramedics, adding: “She was screaming. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t deserve that. Her mum didn’t deserve to watch her die.” In a separate flurry of violence on Monday night, a 16-year-old boy was left in a critical condition after he was shot in the face in Walthamstow. Another boy, aged 15, was taken to hospital with stab wounds.

So far there is no evidence of a link to the Tottenham murder, but it will be one line of inquiry to rule it out.

So far this year, the Metropolitan Police have launched 47 murder inquiries – eight in January, 15 in February, 22 in March and two in April.

In the whole of last year, there were 130 murders in London.

Mr Wood added: “The commissioner has been clear we’re going to bear down on violence in all its forms.”

The Home Office is set to publish a serious violence strategy, which it says will place a “new emphasis” on steering young people away from crime. Proposed measures include a tightening of rules covering online sales of knives. The government has also said it is “determined” to maintain the UK’S gun laws.