A 15-year-old and an 18-year-old stabbed to death in attacks in Stratford and Camberwell

This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

Two teenagers have been fatally stabbed within hours of each other in London.

A 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death outside a busy shopping centre in Stratford, east London, shortly after 3pm on Thursday.

Five hours later, officers were called to the Brandon Estate in Camberwell, south London, where they found an 18-year-old man with stab wounds. He died an hour later, the Metropolitan police said.

Police and witnesses to the Stratford stabbing said the boy’s friends and passersby rushed to help after he was knifed outside a McDonald’s at the Stratford Centre. He was named by police as Baptista Adjei, from North Woolwich.

One witness said: “At that moment there were not many people around him so I could see him all covered in blood. He was in pain and tried getting up. There were people around gathering. It was scary as you did not know if any of them could have had a knife too.”

One stall worker said he saw paramedics trying to perform first aid to a “young guy”.

“I saw police around here and one person was on the floor, I think they stabbed him,” he said. “It was a young guy. He was a black guy on the floor. I think the ambulance guys tried to give him first aid.”

A second boy, also aged 15, was also found with stab injuries and taken to an east London hospital, where his injuries were said to be not life-threatening.

Police called the incident a “senseless attack” and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

DCI Chris Soole, who is leading the investigation, said: “First and foremost our thoughts are with this young man’s family and friends. They so tragically are having to come to terms with this terrible loss of life. The victim of this stabbing was a schoolboy with his whole life ahead of him. He had everything to live for.”

No arrests have been made in either the Camberwell or Stratford investigations, police said.