Second arrest over stab death

1:45am Thursday 4th September 2008

Police have arrested a second youth in connection with the murder of 14-year-old Shaquille Smith.

The second teenager is 17. Metropolitan Police also arrested a 19-year-old in the early hours of Wednesday in east London. Both youths are in police custody.

Shaquille died after being stabbed in the stomach in St Thomas's Place in Hackney, east London, on Saturday.

His sister Tahira, 16, also suffered knife wounds in the attack and needed hospital treatment.

Residents described seeing a group of about 15 youths on bicycles ride up and attack Shaquille as he sat on a bench in a small park in front of his house.

On Monday, friends of Shaquille claimed he had been the innocent victim of a long-running gang war.

One spoke of his shock at the attack and said the teenager had been caught in the crossfire of a battle he had nothing to do with. The 20-year-old, who asked not to be named, said: "I have known him all my life. Shaq's a good guy - the class clown.

"Everyone knew him but for good reasons. He was innocent. I'm just totally shocked. His family are devastated. They are very quiet and don't want to talk to anyone."

The friend said a violent feud had rumbled on in Hackney between a gang from the London Fields area and a group from the E9 postcode. "This isn't a feud - it's a war now," he said.

Shaquille, who was the 25th teenager to meet a violent death in the capital this year, lived in St Thomas's Place with his parents and three brothers and sisters.