A teenager who was shot dead during a ‘family fun day’ at a park in Notting Hill, west London, has been pictured for the first time.
Rene Graham has been named as the victim of the assault at Hornimans Park, also known as ‘Teletubbies park’, at around 7.20pm on Sunday.
The 15-year-old had been fatally wounded and succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Named for its brightly-coloured playground, Tellytubby park had been hosting the annual ‘Park Lime’ event- which is organised by the Caribbean Music Association and bills itself as a ‘family fun day’ with music and food stalls.
A security officer at the scene of the crime said: ‘A teenager was assassinated. I was right there. People were rushing and everyone was screaming. They were rushing through the barrier. There were two gunshots.
‘We had booked the street that’s cordoned off for a film shoot tomorrow. I don’t know if that’s going to happen now.’
Another security officer added: ‘There’s loads of guns around here. It’s the area. It’s a dodgy area. Everyone around here has got something. Carnival is coming next month. People start hurting themselves for no reason. It’s sad.’
An eyewitness described how the gunman initially fired a ‘warning’ shot into the air to clear crowds before ‘assassinating’ the teenager.
Six people have been arrested in connection with the murder and remain in police custody.
Eyewitness Aaron Mason, 43, told Metro: ‘I was there where the shooting happened. I was literally there. It was the top of the stairs, the Kensal Road end, and I was literally down the bottom.
‘I think it was local kids. The shooting itself was like two shots, pat pat, then a third one after that, so it was like three shots. And it was a string of, how old? They’re adolescents, they’re kids. Literally, they are kids.’
‘At first people were screaming, then there’s about 50 to 100 people running. A lot of people just stayed there. Like when the air ambulance was trying to come, everybody was still in the middle of the park. It’s like gossip, get your phones out, record, talk on Facebook, lalala.’
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Cristina, a mum of two who lives in the area, said: ‘I’m just feeling upset because it’s meant to be a day for the community to get together and have have fun and it’s ended up like this. It’s just devastating, isn’t it? It’s not nice for any community, but we’re quite a tight community and we just feel let down.’
‘There’s always incidents now. There are lots of incidents happening after Carnival and after events like this, but never like this, not so young. It’s children against children and that makes it worse.
‘What made them think it was okay to take away a life? What makes them think that it’s okay to do that? It’s awful. Makes you feel scared for your children as well, because I’m bringing up my children in this society. And I think what’s gonna happen to them?
‘That’s why I never went yesterday. My daughter wanted to go because a lot of her school friends go, but I don’t feel safe going to these get together, and it’s a shame because we should, it’s a community thing, we should all feel safe to go.’
On Facebook, someone claimed to have seen the gunman start firing after emerging from some nearby bushes, while another said: ‘Ran for my life. I was there and heard three gunshots. Didn’t wait to see who, I ran for my life. This is so sad. The park was full of families having fun.’
In a statement the Met said: ‘Police were called at approximately 19:20hrs on Sunday, 21 July to reports of a shooting in a park near Hazlewood Crescent, W10.
‘Officers, London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance all attended the scene.
‘A teenager, believed aged 15, was found suffering injuries. Despite the best efforts of the emergency services he was pronounced dead at the scene.
‘Work is ongoing to identify and inform his next of kin.’
The force said that there were no reports of anyone else being injured, adding: ‘Six males have been arrested on suspicion of murder and remain in custody.’
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: ‘We were called at 7.19pm this evening (21 July) to reports of a shooting in a park off Hazlewood Crescent, Ladbroke Grove.
‘We sent a number of resources including ambulance crews, paramedics in fast response cars and an incident response officer. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.
‘Sadly a man died at the scene despite the best efforts of our crews to save his life.’
Police have extended the cordon this afternoon and closed the canal bridge in order to collect more evidence.
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