Help, he’s going to stab me!
Boy’s plea as he tried to flee thug who killed him in front of terrified pupils
A TEENAGER was stabbed to death yards from the flagship academy school he attended.
Quamari Barnes, 15, was ambushed as he waited to catch a bus home after class. Fellow pupils screamed in terror as he tried to evade his attacker while shouting: ‘He’s going to stab me!’
Locals said bitter school rivalries might lie behind the stabbing, the latest in a series of tragic incidents in London. A 15year-old suspect was being questioned by Scotland Yard detectives last night.
Quamari was attacked on Monday afternoon outside Capital City Academy in Willesden. He ran back towards teachers at the school gates and collapsed in a street lined with family homes.
Paramedics took him to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
‘It happened right after school,’ said a 50-year- old resident. ‘All the kids were running around like usual but then it just went quiet. I got up to draw the curtains and saw kids running away, screaming. Some school kids were crowding around another boy who was on the floor.
‘The police turned up in a van and an ambulance took him away. There were loads of kids hovering around and police had to order them to go home. The kids can be rowdy sometimes play fighting and pushing over bins but I never imagined something like this could happen.’
Another witness said: ‘He was screaming “He’s going to stab me” repeatedly while his attacker chased him.’
Others reported mostly minor scuffles between pupils at the school, which was opened by Tony Blair in 2004 as the first in Labour’s academy programme.
There were emotional scenes outside the school last night as a statement was read out on behalf of the victim’s family to hundreds of pupils.
Quamira’s godmother, Sylvia Tella, said: ‘Everybody who is here and walks away from this you know in your heart that it could happen to you or to anybody.
‘This life did not die in vain. Us as a people have to stand together now and take away these knives off the roads.
‘We have all done it before: getting into fights, but with fists not with knives. Now everybody’s lives are never going to be the same. Quamari had a kind word behind police tape as officers carfor everyone. He died for no reason, ried out house-to-house inquiries outside his school.’ and forensic specialists examined
Quamari’s family were being comthe scene. forted by friends. Friends said he Hundreds of sobbing pupils came was a ‘cheeky little boy’ who was to the school to lay flowers and pay on the pupil council. their respects at the front gate.
He is the second teenager to be An improvised shrine included a stabbed to death in London this Jamaican flag and a poster with a year. Business studies student Bob Marley quote: ‘ Don’t worry Djojo Nsaka, 19, suffered a single about a thing.’ knife wound outside his university Quamari, who was known to some halls of residence near Wembley friends as Prince, lived with his Stadium last Friday. mother Alma, known as Lillian, 39,
Yesterday, the street where Quaand a younger sister. Photographs mari died remained sealed off posted online show he was once a member of a gymnastics club and had a passion for music.
His friend, Che Labastide-Wellington, was stabbed to death in November 2015. The 17-year- old died after scuffling with gatecrashers who tried to get into a 16th birthday party in Kenton, northwest London.
Family friend Troy Robinson, 19, said: ‘Quamari was a well-liked boy in the area and everybody knew who he was. So to hear about his death so suddenly outside the school gates is sad for everyone who knew him. The family are obvi- ously really torn up about what has happened and we’re just getting back from the hospital.
‘I knew Quamari and his friends, and as far as I know he was not involved in a gang. He was a good kid. Another one of his friends, who was called Grimz, died as well around a year ago.’
Detective Chief Insp Mark Lawson, of the Metropolitan Police, said he wanted to hear from the ‘large number’ of witnesses.
He said: ‘While the motive for this stabbing remains unclear, I would also like to speak with anyone who may have heard about what happened after the attack.’
Capital City Academy, a specialist sports and arts school housed in a building designed by Sir Norman Foster, has been highly praised by Ofsted inspectors.
A spokesman for the school said: ‘It is with overwhelming sadness we must confirm the sudden death of one of our pupils.
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this very sad time; and also with friends, fellow students and teachers.’
‘We have to stand together now’