London stabbings: Teenager charged with killing 15-year-old Baptista Adjei in Stratford
Another teenager was stabbed to death hours later in London
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A 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder after allegedly stabbing a schoolboy to death outside a London shopping centre.
Police said Baptista Adjei, also 15, was attacked after getting off a bus in Stratford at around 3pm on Thursday.
Witnesses said his friends and members of the public attempted to give first aid after an “altercation” outside a McDonald’s in the Stratford Centre.
But police and paramedics found him with critical injuries and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 3.49pm.
The 15-year-old suspect has been charged with murder, grievous bodily harm with intent relating to a second teenage victim, and two counts of possession of an offensive weapon.
He is due to appear at Stratford Youth Court on Monday.
Det Ch Insp Chris Soole, who is leading the investigation, said Baptista was “a schoolboy with his whole life ahead of him”.
“We share the concern and alarm this murder will no doubt cause in the local community,” he added.
Baptista's aunt, Aretha Adjei, described her nephew was a “fun-loving boy”, who would “always make you laugh” and was not affiliated with a gang.
She told the Evening Standard: “The fact that he died in his school uniform is horrific.
"He had just finished school. He spoke to his mum on the phone about coming home after popping in to McDonald's with a friend. Twenty minutes later he was stabbed to death.
"His mother is not coping well. She only has two children. You can't imagine her pain. She keeps saying how she should have gone and picked him up.”
The teenager's former football team, Mindset FC, tweeted that Baptista – from Woolwich in south-east London – was a ”very humble boy, with great manners and very talented“.
Five hours later, another teenager was stabbed to death in Camberwell.
Police were called to the Brandon Estate shortly after 8pm on Thursday and found the 18-year-old with stab wounds. He died an hour later.
Detectives said he had been chased into a park by a group of young men “who set upon him after he fell to the ground”.
A man is in a critical condition in hospital after a stabbing in Whitechapel on Saturday afternoon.
Police were called shortly after 2pm to reports of men fighting and found one with stab wounds.
Two men were arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder and have been taken into custody.
Elsewhere in the city, police said a man believed to be in his early 20s suffered multiple stab wounds at Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherd's Bush.
Officers were called to the scene shortly after 7pm and the victim was taken to hospital. His condition is not yet known.
Additional reporting by PA