Gunman 'jumped from bushes to assassinate 15-year-old boy' on 'family fun day' at west London park
22 July 2024, 14:41 | Updated: 22 July 2024, 14:53
A gunman who killed a 15-year-old boy at a 'family fun day' in a west London park jumped out of the bushes to ambush him, according to an eyewitness.
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The teenager, who has not been named, was shot dead at Emslie Horniman's Pleasance - known locally as 'Teletubbies Park' - in Ladbroke Grove on Sunday evening.
The teenager, 15, was found badly injured at the scene. He was pronounced dead despite the efforts of paramedics.
Six men have been arrested in connection with the shooting.
One woman wrote on social media that her brother "saw the guy come from the bushes and fired the gun in the crowd."
Read more: Boy, 15, shot dead during ‘family fun day’ at London park - as six arrested
Another eyewitness said: "Everyone was chilling, having a good time when I heard a shot. A guy shot in the air as a warning, it looked like so people would clear out of the way.
"Then everyone scattered, we ran. When the cries cleared he shot the boy. He was on the ground.
"Everyone was running and taking cover, it was mad. It was targeted, it looked like an assassination."
Jediah Ali, a community worker, said locals were still trying to come to terms with what had happened.
He told LBC: "I've seen grown men pretty shaken up by stuff they've seen, others that... saw the commotion - and to realise that they were so close to where a young man has lost their life is obviously going to be upsetting."
Work is ongoing to identify and inform the teenage victim's next of kin.
A security guard who was working at the event told MailOnline: "A teenager was assassinated. I was right there.
"People were rushing and everyone was screaming. They were rushing through the barrier."
The Metropolitan Police confirmed six males were arrested on suspicion of murder and remain in custody.
A crime scene remains in place.
Video taken not long before the incident showed hundreds of people, including families with their children, gathering in the area for 'Park Lime', an annual event organised by the Caribbean Music Association which bills itself as a 'family fun day' with DJs, carnival stalls and food kiosks.
Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or ‘X’ @MetCC and quote CAD6343/21Jul, or to contact Crimestoppers anonymously.
Father Damian Ryan, 43, a priest at a church bordering the park, estimated that more than 1,000 people were in attendance at Sunday's event and were "spilling over" onto the nearby streets.
He said: "It was a rammed park and outside it was spilling over as well."
When asked how he felt when he heard about the shooting, Father Ryan said: "I wasn't in complete shock if I'm completely honest - heartbroken, utterly heartbroken, so saddened and maybe a bit of misplaced anger.
"Several months ago, there had been a murder... a couple of hundred yards away someone was murdered.
"I've only been here two years, but other parishioners, people in the community, are saying this is not completely abnormal."
Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said the shooting was "absolutely horrific and just awful for the family".
When asked what the council is doing to reduce violence in the area, Ms Campbell said: "We do huge amounts.
"We have detached outreach teams working with the young, we have a huge amount of youth clubs, we have outstanding social work - so we do absolutely everything we can on our side as the council."
The MP for Kensington and Bayswater, Joe Powell, described the attack as "horrific news" in a statement posted on X.
He wrote: "I'm aware of the horrific news that a young boy has been shot and killed in Golborne this evening - and my thoughts are with his family.
"These senseless acts of violence must stop."
