Grieving mother calls for end to London bloodshed

London: A mother has pleaded for an end to the bloodshed in London after her teenage son was shot dead amid another wave of violent crime in the capital.

Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, 17, was killed and three other people were shot but survived over the weekend.

In Wealdstone, north-west London, two boys aged 13 and 15 were shot and suffered head injuries and a 22-year-old was shot in Lewisham, in the south of the capital. None have life-threatening injuries.

A 43-year-old man was stabbed in Perivale, north-west London, on Sunday and two men and a boy were taken to hospital after an acid attack in Hackney in east London.

Barton’s mother, Pretana Morgan, called for the violence to end.

“Let my son be the last and be an example to everyone,” she said. “Just let it stop. What must be, must be.”

She added: “It’s not about race, it’s not about nation, it’s not about culture. Nothing. It’s just a human race. Just one human race. So children, please let my son be the last.”

She said her son was not in a gang and he had been “trying to make a difference” by learning to work with children.

The aspiring architect had “so much potential”, his mother said as she tearfully told of her “handsome boy”.

Paramedics and police were called to reports of gunshots on Cooks Road in Kennington in south London on Saturday at just after 6pm. Rhyhiem was found on nearby Warham Street with a gunshot injury.

His death is the latest in a spate of violent crimes in the capital with police investigating more than 60 alleged murders so far this year.

Last month, in one of her last actions as home secretary, Amber Rudd launched a serious violence strategy to clamp down on violent crime, which has been rising since 2014.

The strategy is to be backed by £40m (Dh198.73 million) of Home Office funding and a new offensive weapons bill to ban the sale of corrosive liquids to under-18s and introduce tougher restrictions for buying knives online. It will focus heavily on the links between illegal drug markets, particularly for crack cocaine, and violent crime.

The strategy was launched amid controversy over the potential link between dwindling police numbers and the rise in violence.

Police have said extra patrols will be working on bank holiday Monday to keep the capital’s streets safe.

Det Ch Supt Simon Messinger added that officers were using search powers to seize knives and to stop cars carrying weapons.