Tributes paid to latest stabbing victim

2010-03-28 189


Friends have paid tribute to a youth killed in a stabbing incident amid fears he had been caught up in a "turf war".


The youngster killed in the incident, in Hackney, east London - in which two other people were injured - was named locally as Godwin Lawson, a 17-year-old aspiring footballer.


The latest bloodshed in the capital came within 36 hours of the death of a teenager cornered by a gang of schoolboys at Victoria Underground station and repeatedly knifed.


Mr Lawson was found by police in a road called Amhurst Park at around 1.50am on Saturday and was pronounced dead at the scene.


The other men, believed to be in their late teens or early 20s, were taken to hospital suffering from stab wounds. One was said to be seriously ill, though neither is thought to be in a life-threatening condition.


Detective Chief Inspector John Macdonald said the three were attacked in Amhurst Park near the junction with Durley Road and at least four male suspects made off up Durley Road.


He said: "The area would still have been quite busy at the time of the attack, so we need to speak to anyone who saw what happened."


Friends of the victim arrived at the scene and laid flowers.


His friends said he was originally from Ghana but was living in north London with his mother and stepfather. The two other victims were named by Mr Lawson's friends as Daniel and Julian Escobar, brothers originally from Colombia.