The mother of a 17-year-old boy shot dead in south London has criticised police for not protecting him.
Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton died after police were called to reports of gunfire in Southwark at about 6pm on Saturday.
Armed officers attended the scene and discovered the teenager with a gunshot wound.
Ambulance crews provided first aid but he was pronounced dead shortly before 7pm.
Rhyhiem’s mother, Pretana Morgan, paid tribute to her son and criticised police for “putting us in danger”.
She told reporters: “I couldn’t have asked for a better son. My son was a very handsome boy.
“He’s got so much potential.”
Ms Morgan said Rhyhiem was “trying to make a difference” by learning to work with children.
“This is not life. My son’s a good boy,” she said.
“We’re not being protected because of the police. The police are the ones putting us in danger.”
No arrests have been made and detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Homicide and Major Crime Command are investigating.
The fatal shooting is the latest violent crime to hit London amid concerns about the capital’s rising murder rate.
Sky News has identified 60 people who are suspected to have been deliberately killed in London since the start of the year.
On Tuesday, a man believed to be in his 30s was killed after a shooting outside Queensbury Tube station in northwest London.
The latest killing comes after Donald Trump compared a London hospital to a “war zone” because of the spate of fatal stabbings in the capital this year.
The US president’s remarks at a pro-gun rally in Texas were later branded “ridiculous” by a surgeon working in the capital.
From – SkyNews
