Teen held over Shaquille murder
- 00:01:24
- ITN
Teen held over Shaquille murder
A teenager has been arrested in connection with murder of 14-year-old Shaquille Smith. The youngster died after being stabbed in the stomach in St Thomas's Place in Hackney, east London, on Saturday. His sister, Tahira, 16, also suffered knife wounds in the attack and needed hospital treatment. Residents described seeing a group of around 15 youths on bikes ride up and attack Shaquille as he sat on a bench in a small park in front of his house. Metropolitan Police said they arrested a male in his late teens in east London. On Monday, friends of Shaquille claimed he had been the innocent victim of a long-running gang war. One spoke of his shock at the attack and said the teenager had been caught in the crossfire of a battle he had nothing to do with. The 20-year-old, who asked not to be named, said: "I have known him all my life. Shaq's a good guy - the class clown. "Everyone knew him but for good reasons. He was innocent. I'm just totally shocked. "His family are devastated. They are very quiet and don't want to talk to anyone." The friend said a violent feud had rumbled on in Hackney between a gang from the London Fields area and a group from the E9 postcode. "This isn't a feud - it's a war now," he said. "This all goes back to the (Notting Hill) Carnival 2006. "There was a fight between one of the youngers from London Fields and an older from E9. "The olders saw it as a disrespect thing. It's gone from fist fights to knives to guns and back to knives." Members of the London Fields gang would travel to E9 to attack teenagers simply for hanging out in that area, he said. Shaquille's murder was likely to provoke revenge attacks, he added. "We don't know exactly who did this but we know it's London Fields," he said. "They will do something to every one of them till they find out who stabbed Shaq." Shaquille, who was the 25th teenager to meet a violent death in the capital this year, lived in St Thomas's Place with his parents and three brothers and sisters.
ITN | September 3, 2008
