Tributes have been paid to a 16-year-old boy who died in front of his parents in the fifth fatal stabbing in London in six days.

The death of the teenager, named locally as John, was the 119th violent death in London so far this year. One friend said the aspiring rapper was bubbly, friendly and respectful.

Police were initially called to a street in Tulse Hill, south London, at 10.53pm on Monday to reports of a shooting. The officers arrived at the scene with the London ambulance service and found the teenager collapsed in the street with injuries believed to be stab wounds.

The police said there was currently no evidence that a firearm had been discharged.

In response to the spate of attacks, the police said they had hundreds of officers across every borough in London to keep people safe and keep weapons off the streets.

Commander Stuart Cundy said: “I can’t imagine the impact of the murders over the last few days on the family and friends of those that have died. They have my commitment that we have teams of specialist investigators working on those cases to bring those responsible to justice.

“But it’s not just about investigating murders. Today we have hundreds of police officers on duty across every borough in London doing everything that we can to keep people safe, to take weapons off our street and to bring down the level of violence that we are tragically seeing at this point in time.”

A friend who had dinner with the victim on the evening he was killed said: “He was bubbly. He was the friendly type. He was respectful. He had manners.”

Two other girls said the boy was stabbed five times as he was leaving a friend’s house. The friends described the boy as an aspiring rapper who was associated with the LTH (Lower Tulse Hill) gang and went to school at Park Campus in West Norwood.

Paulina Wedderburn, a neighbour, said she saw the boy’s parents at the scene waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

“The boy was laying down. He looked like an angel, like he was sleeping,” Wedderburn said on Tuesday morning. “I just feel sorry for the mum. The mum’s screams, I can’t get out of my head. It’s awful. Imagine being a mother seeing that.”

Of the recent spate of violence and killings in south London, she said: “What’s going on? What is it? Why do they have to be killing each other? When I was growing up in the 70s, if there was a fist fight, that was it. There was no knives.”

The other stabbing victims in the past week were Rocky Djelal, 38, Jay Hughes, 15, Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, and an unnamed 22-year-old man.

Sunday 4 November: unnamed, 22

The Metropolitan police have yet to name the 22-year-old victim found with stab injuries in Anerley, south-east London, on Sunday. He was pronounced dead at the scene at about 1pm.

Police were making enquiries to establish his identity and inform his next of kin.

Two men aged 19 and 21 were arrested on suspicion of murder and were in custody at a south London police station.

Friday 2 November: Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17

Police were called at about 4.35pm on Friday to reports of a stabbing in Balham Hill, outside Clapham South tube station. Officers and paramedics carried out emergency first aid on Malcolm before he was taken to a hospital in south London, where he died a short time later.

Malcolm was a student at a college in Clapham. Police have informed his next of kin. A postmortem examination was held on Monday. Police said the stabbing followed an altercation involving two small groups of young males. They do not believe the attack to be gang related at this stage.

A 17-year-old who was arrested on Monday has been charged with Malcolm’s murder. He has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Bromley magistrates’ court on Wednesday. An 18-year-old man who was also arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday has been released on bail until later this month.

Thursday 1st November: Jay Hughes, 15

Jay was fatally stabbed in an allegedly “premeditated attack” near a chicken shop in Bellingham, south-east London, at about 5.20pm on Thursday.

Officers arrived at the scene with paramedics and took Jay to hospital. Despite the efforts of medical professionals, he was pronounced dead at 8.15pm. A postmortem examination concluded Jay had died from a single stab wound to the heart.

His aunt Rochelle, 32, told the Evening Standard: “He said he was going out to get some food and he never came back.”

She described him as a “lovely, kind, beautiful boy” who wanted to become a cartoonist. “He loved riding his mountain bike, was very bright and brilliant at art,” she said.

Wednesday 31st October: Rocky Djelal, 38

Police were called to Southwark Park shortly before 2pm on Wednesday 31 October to reports of an assault. Djelal was found with stab injuries near a playground. He died at the scene.

DCI Simon Harding said: “Any speculation about the motive is unhelpful at this early stage, but we do believe that Rocky may have been targeted.”

Djelal’s family spoke of their grief and urged witnesses to come forward. “We are absolutely grief stricken. We have lost our boy, our son who we adored. A father who was idolised by his daughter, a brother who was loved dearly, and an uncle, nephew and friend who was loved and respected,” they said in a statement.