Crime reporter(wp/es):
A murder investigation has been launched after a teenage boy was shot dead in east London.
Scotland Yard said a boy in his “mid-teens” was killed and another man in his early 20s was injured after the pair were shot in Newham on Friday night.
The boy was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering a gunshot wound, police said. The other victim is not thought to have suffered life-threatening injuries, and it is not yet clear whether the two shootings are linked.
Terrified witnesses told how they heard gunshots being fired just before 11pm before police descended on the scene in North Woolwich.
One said: "I went to the area to get some Chinese. Whilst I was there I heard a couple of shots, sudden bangs.
"Suddenly there was a tonne of police cars and squad cars in the area, lots of blue lights. Spoke to my former neighbour, she said she heard the same thing as me... sounded like gun shots."
She added that the boy was shot in the back, though police did not immediately confirm the report.
Another North Woolwich resident tweeted: "Last night 2 people were shot in North Woolwich. Since when did my area become like this?"
A Scotland Yard spokesman said a murder investigation was underway and that the boy’s next-of-kin were being informed.
He said: “Police were called at 10.44pm on Friday, 7 April to reports of shots heard and a teenager found injured on Rebourne Way, E16.
“Local officers, firearms officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found a boy, believed to be in his mid-teens, with a gunshot injury. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“A short time later, a man aged in his early 20s, was found with a gunshot injury in Claremont Close. He was taken to an east London hospital where he remains in a stable condition; his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.”
There have been no arrests.
