Murdered boy 'caught in gang war crossfire'

A teenager stabbed to death in the street was the innocent victim of a long-running gang war, it was claimed today.

Shaquille Maitland-Smith died after being stabbed in the stomach in St Thomas's Place in Hackney, east London, on Saturday.

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The 14-year-old's sister, Tahira, 16, also suffered knife wounds in the attack and needed hospital treatment.

Residents described seeing a group of around 15 youths on bikes ride up and attack Shaquille as he sat on a bench in a small park in front of his house.

A friend of the murdered teenager spoke of his shock at the attack and said Shaquille had been caught in the crossfire of a battle he had nothing to do with.

The 20-year-old, who asked not to be named, said: "I have known him all my life. Shaq's a good guy - the class clown.

"Everyone knew him but for good reasons. He was innocent. I'm just totally shocked.

"His family are devastated. They are very quiet and don't want to talk to anyone."

The friend said a violent feud had rumbled on in Hackney between a gang from the London Fields area and a group from the E9 postcode.

"This isn't a feud - it's a war now," he said.

"This all goes back to the (Notting Hill) Carnival 2006.

"There was a fight between one of the youngers from London Fields and an older from E9.

"The olders saw it as a disrespect thing.

"It's gone from fist fights to knives to guns and back to knives."

Members of the London Fields gang would travel to E9 to attack teenagers simply for hanging out in that area, he said.

"When I was younger they tried to come down and shoot us nearly every day, but people like me got older and got tired of it," he said.

Shaquille's murder was likely to provoke revenge attacks, he said.

"We don't know exactly who did this but we know it's London Fields," he said.

"They will do something to every one of them till they find out who stabbed Shaq."

The teenager was attacked in a former churchyard which is now a park on a narrow alleyway between a large council estate and a row of terraced houses.

Local resident Laura Middlehurst, 31, said she had often seen Shaquille hanging out in the park with his friends.

"He hangs round with some of his mates but they are always really nice and polite," she said.

"I saw him 15 minutes before he was attacked. He was sitting on the bench with his sister and another friend.

"My friend was outside smoking a cigarette and she saw a gang of about 15 lads pull up on bikes out of nowhere.

"He tried to run away and hide in the bushes but they attacked him and rode off."

Shaquille, who is the 25th teenager to meet a violent death in the capital this year, lived in St Thomas's Place with his parents and three brothers and sisters.

Yesterday, Shaquille's aunt, Jackie Green, said her nephew had been sitting outside his house when a group of youths walked past and attacked him.

"I don't think the others realised Shaquille had been stabbed at first, they thought he had just been punched," she said. "It's just terrible."

His sister, known as Titi, was still suffering emotionally but was OK, she added.

She said Shaquille had four siblings and that both his parents were social workers.