A bloody gang war is feared to be on the brink of erupting after a boy, 18, stabbed to death in east London was revealed to be the brother of another knife victim killed four years earlier in the same neighbourhood.
Junior Jah died shortly before 2.45pm on Monday after being attacked in broad daylight just a few feet from his front door in Coolfin Road, Canning Town.
Back in 2017, his brother, Ahmed Jah, then 21, was also stabbed to death just 150 yards from the scene in Freemasons Road as he went to buy a soft drink from a convenience store.
It sparked revenge attacks that year that saw the murder of CJ Davis, 14, shot in the head beside a playground in north Newham. His killers have never been found.
He is believed to have been caught in the middle when the Woodgrange E7 gang and their rivals The Beckton E6 crew clashed following months of taunts.
The senseless killing, which also saw a 17-year-old boy caught in the cross-fire, was believed to be a revenge attack ordered by Beckton E6 following a hunting knife stabbing at Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford.
They included a number of acid attacks by thugs who made their getaways on mopeds.
This map shows the patchwork of gangs who control different streets in London
The victim of the Canning Town murder was named locally as Junior Jah, who had just turned 18. His brother Ahmed Jah (right) was stabbed to death four years earlier
Corey Junior Davis aged seven in school uniform. He was shot dead, 14, in Forest Gate in 2017
Ahmed is believed to have been known by the nickname ‘Grinna’, while Junior was known as ‘Young Grinna’.
The younger sibling was yesterday remembered by relatives as ‘a beautiful, quiet boy’.
Witnesses said emergency services rushed to the scene and fought hard to save him but he was pronounced dead on the street.
A young man was seen with his head in his hands, crying on a curb next to the crime scene where Junior was killed.
A neighbour described the horrific moment she walked out her front door to see Junior on the ground just yards away.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said this morning: ‘My friend told me something had happened so I came out of my house and saw that poor boy lying there and I just came back inside.
‘His brother was also stabbed. They are a nice family, it’s so sad.
‘I always said ‘good morning’ to them and they always said ‘good morning’ to me.
‘It’s awful and it frightens you when it happens right where you live.’
Junior Jah is the twelfth teenager to be stabbed to death in London already this year. Seventeen teenagers were murdered in the capital in the whole of 2020.
An 18-year-old was stabbed to death in Canning Town, east London, with police being called
Emergency services arrived at the site of the stabbing in Canning Town but could not save him
Flowers and heartbreaking tributes have been left in his memory at the scene which is just a mile from where 14-year-old Fares Maatou was fatally stabbed three days earlier.
One heart-rending message written on a card amongst flowers read: ‘Still can’t believe you’ve gone. Always in our hearts and never forgotten.’
A forensic tent has been set up just feet from the front door of an address registered to his father, Abubakarr.
The two storey terraced home sits behind police tape while officers stand guard.
At the scene of the attack, Junior’s aunt Yvette Goodhew, from Stratford, said: ‘We always knew him as Junior. He was a beautiful quiet boy. He had just turned 18.
‘We didn’t see the family often but I remembered he was a good boy.’
Ahmed Jah, the eldest of four siblings, died after being knifed in the chest inside BJ Wines in nearby Freemasons Road on April 2, 2017.
His father Abubakarr, a rail construction worker, told the Evening Standard at the time: ‘Young people need to put down their knives and stop the violence. It is destroying families and communities.
‘He was a beautiful, kind boy. He wanted to do something with his life. Now we have lost him. He didn’t deserve for this to happen.’
The tragedy came as boys of 17 and 18 were also injured in separate attacks less than an hour apart.
At around 3.30pm police were called to nearby Poplar after reports that a 17-year-old male had suffered stab injuries.
And at 3.40pm officers were called to Redbridge where an 18-year-old boy was found with leg injuries.
Police officers at the scene yesterday after two girls were stabbed in West Norwood, south London on Sunday
Police officers at the scene in West Norwood yesterday following the stabbing of two teenage girls on Sunday
Fares Maatou, 15, (pictured) died after being stabbed in Newham on Friday
No arrests have been made over any of the incidents, which police were not linking during initial investigations.
A section 60 order, which allows officers to search anyone without reasonable grounds amid a risk of serious violence, has been put in place for the entire borough of Newham.
Police are also calling on anyone with information to come forward.
A spokesperson said: ‘Anyone with information that could assist the investigation at this early stage is asked to contact police on 101 or tweet @MetCC and quote CAD 4050/26April. Alternatively, you can provide information anonymously via the independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.’
Monday’s carnage comes after a weekend that saw other unrelated incidents of knife crime across the capital
On Sunday, two teenage girls aged 16 and 17 were stabbed in broad daylight in West Norwood, south London.
Following the attack at around 4.30pm, the girls were taken to hospital where the 16-year-old remains in a critical but stable condition.
The older girl was taken to hospital by air ambulance which landed on the roof of a nearby B&Q. Her condition was initially life threatening but she is now serious but stable.
The younger girl did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
Both girls appeared to have been stabbed in the torso below the shoulder.
Scotland Yard said four boys, aged between 16 and 17, were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. One has since been released with no further action, while the other three remain in custody.
In another incident, Fares Maatou, 15, was killed in the borough of Newham on Friday.
A 14-year-old boy, who has appeared at youth court charged with his murder, has been remanded in custody at a youth detention centre and told to appear at the Old Bailey.