Boy 16 shot dead in Stockwell was very bright at school

The 16-year-old boy shot dead in Stockwell was a “very bright” pupil at school and was called Lathaniel, locals said.

Police were called at 3.21pm on Tuesday to reports of a shooting in Paradise Road, Stockwell, south London.

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics.

Relatives who attended the scene to lay flowers on Wednesday confirmed to the PA news agency the boy’s first name was Lathaniel.

A man who said he was the boy’s uncle, who asked not to be named, claimed the gunmen posed as delivery drivers.

He said: “They came on a moped dressed as Deliveroo drivers.”

No arrests have yet been made in connection with the shooting, the Metropolitan Police said.

Other relatives, who declined to give their names, described the teenager as a Manchester United fan who enjoyed playing Playstation 5, and had one sibling, a sister.

A resident, who said she knew the boy’s mother, said Nathaniel was “very bright at school” and said his father worked at a nearby go-karting facility.

“He is great at looking after this community,” the woman, who asked not to be named, said.

A crime scene and cordons remain in place, with several police cars and officers stationed nearby.

Another resident who knew Nathaniel said she was distressed to hear the news, saying that her own son had also died in a stabbing a few years ago.

And a young woman who lives nearby said: “This area is not safe at night. There are a lot of teenage boys that cause a lot of trouble who live around here.

“They hang around at night, play around with the cops. Things like playing with fireworks and running from the police. But it can get serious. Someone I know got stabbed some time last year.

“I think about where the cameras are when I am walking at night, but there are no cameras in that area (of the shooting).

Speaking about the shooting, she said the attackers had “no shame as well, there is a primary school next door”.

An older resident who lives nearby said: “This area hasn’t been like this since the 80s.”

Adrian Lindo, 50, who lives nearby, said “I would have thought that the younger generation would have learnt about what has happened in this area in the past.

“They have to learn from the previous generations. My commiserations to the family.”

The death was described as a “life wasted” by Florence Eshalomi, Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green.

The killing is the first fatal shooting in London so far this year. There were 13 in 2024 out of a total of 105 homicides recorded by the Metropolitan Police.

According to figures from mid-December, eight out of 104 killings in 2023 involved a gun, while there were 10 fatal shootings out of 104 homicides recorded in 2022.

During the same period the number of teenagers who have lost their lives to violence has fluctuated.

There were 12 teenage homicide victims in 2024, 21 in 2023 and 14 in 2022, down from 30 in 2021 out of a total 134 recorded homicides.

While fatal shootings are far less common than stabbings, there has recently been a national amnesty over a particular type of blank-firing gun that is converted by organised criminals to fire live rounds.

More than 1,000 Turkish-manufactured top-venting blank-firing guns were handed in during February in England and Wales.

Law enforcement officials found the weapons could be converted to fire live ammunition in around 20 minutes.

Published: 05/03/2025 by Radio NewsHub