An 18-year-old stabbed to death in east London yesterday was the brother of another knife victim who was killed four years earlier in the same neighbourhood.
Junior Jah died shortly before 2:45 pm 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-year-old, 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.
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.
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 yesterday’s 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-year-old.
“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 2 April 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.”
Yesterday’s tragedy came as boys of 17 and 18 were also injured in separate attacks less than an hour apart.
At around 3:30 pm police were called to nearby Poplar after reports that a 17-year-old male had suffered stab injuries.
And at 3:40 pm officers were called to Redbridge where an 18-year-old boy was found with leg injuries.
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 in yesterday’s attack 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 4050/26 April. 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.
