A 17-year-old boy has died after he was discovered by paramedics in north-east London on Sunday night with a serious stab injury, police said.

London ambulance service (LAS) called police at 11.31pm after finding the teenager on High Street, Walthamstow, after reports of a stabbing. The boy was taken to hospital but died shortly afterwards, according to the Metropolitan police.

Detectives from the Met’s homicide and major crime command have launched a murder investigation. No arrests have been made.

The victim’s next of kin has been informed. However, there has been no formal identification and his name has not been released.

The LAS said: “We were called at 11.29pm yesterday to High Street, E17, to reports of a stabbing. We sent an ambulance crew and single responder in a car to the scene. We treated one patient – a male – and took him as a priority to hospital.”

A crime scene blocked about 100 metres of the western end of High Street, a busy shopping area, on Monday morning. The Guardian understands that the incident that led to the stabbing began around the corner from where the youth was found, in the car park of a Lidl supermarket.

It was the second fatal stabbing on the streets of London at the weekend. Detectives were appealing for witnesses and information after a 23-year-old man who was found stabbed in Uxbridge at 1am on Saturday morning died shortly after arriving at hospital.

The 17-year-old’s death brings to 15 the number of teenagers and children killed in the UK this year, according to Guardian figures. It comes amid a spate of knife killings in London that has prompted Scotland Yard to renew its anti-knife initiative, Operation Sceptre.



New measures include a squad of 80 officers to carry out “murder suppression” operations, including intensified stop and search, in areas considered to be at high risk, the officer in charge, DCS Michael Gallagher, told the Guardian last week.

Schools are also being urged to install metal-detecting knife arches to discourage children from carrying blades in their school bags.