A teenager has died after being attacked by youths reportedly brandishing a handgun and a weapon resembling a “medieval mace”.
The 18-year-old victim was taken to hospital in a critical condition after being shot at close range through the eye. He was placed in an induced coma but died this afternoon, police said.
His 19-year-old friend was beaten by the youths with a weapon described by witnesses in Rotherhithe, south-east London, as a mace-style club. Scotland Yard said this evening that he had been released from hospital following treatment.
Police are investigating reports the attack in broad daylight followed a dispute over a girl. It is not being treated as a gang-related incident.
A 36-year-old man and a 21-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of murder and were being held in custody at a south London police station tonight.
Police officers and paramedics were called to Mossington Gardens at around 3pm yesterday and discovered the gunshot victim slumped on the floor next to bins in a pool of blood.
His friend was found nearby after being beaten with the club.
Neighbours today said the pair had been walking through the estate when a silver hatchback sped into the square of two-storey terraced homes.
They said they heard a loud bang before the youths scattered in different directions on foot.
One told the Standard: “I heard a loud ‘pop’ and it sounded like someone letting off a firework and I could see a hatchback car parked in the road.
“There were about six people around the car and seconds later they started to run away. The car started revving its engines, before it swung violently into the cut-through at Mossington Gardens.
“A minute later the car came speeding back out and tore off up the road.
“I saw one guy running past a block of flats carrying something that looked like a medieval mace. It was like a rounders bat with a club-like part on the end.”
Residents from nearby blocks ran to the victims’ aid with towels and blankets.
A woman, who declined to give her name, said she saw the 18-year-old man hunched on the floor, covered in blood with a “horrendous eye wound.”
She said: “He was just slumped there, moaning until the police and paramedics arrived. I don’t think he knew what was going on. There was a lot of blood.”
Detective Chief Inspector Graeme Gwyn, of the Homicide and Major Crime Command based at Lewisham, is leading the investigation.
Anyone with information can contact police on 0208 721 4805 or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.