Man stabbed to death on busy London street in ‘row over a fiver’ as he made his way to mother’s birthday party
Incident took place in Homerton - an area once dubbed ‘murder mile’
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A man making his way to his mother’s birthday party has been stabbed to death on a busy London street in a “row over a fiver”.
Ambulance crews were called to Homerton High Street at around 5.10pm yesterday following reports of a stabbing.
The victim, named on Twitter as 20-year-old Lamarni Hylton, was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, but was pronounced dead at 6.30pm.
Dozens of tributes were posted on Twitter in the hours after the murder, with many saying the victim had been on his way to his mother’s birthday party and the time of the attack.
Detectives say they are keeping an open mind over the cause of the murder, but witnesses have stated they believed an argument had broken out over a £5 debt.
The Evening Standard quoted 21-year-old kebab shop worker Metin Kaya as saying: “There were people running around and I walked down there and I saw a black woman crying and the rest of the people were in shock. They said someone had been stabbed. I felt a bit weird because it had happened so close to where I work. I feel a bit scared really”.
Local resident Kemarley Stewart, 30 said: “It’s shocking to see that someone got killed here. I have lived here for a year and a bit and have never seen anything like this before.”
IT systems administrator Justin Stephens, who is also 30, said: “It is a shock that it has happened so close to my house. When I got back from work I saw a load of police up the road. It is sad that it has happened.”
London Underground worker Brian Farrow, 53, said: “At first we thought it was a road traffic accident and police closed the road off and no-one knew what was going on.
“Then we heard it was a stabbing and everybody was shocked. This is quite a quiet area now and we do not really get gang violence around here.”
The incident is close to Lower and Upper Clapton Road which was dubbed “murder mile” in 2002 after a series of murders.
A post-mortem examination is set to take place in due course.