Abukah Mahamood

Abukah Mahamood was shot at about 12.15am after being chased by a gang of youths on bicycles.

A man was tried for his murder but the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charge because there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the case. The man tried for the murder had lived on the Stockwell Gardens estate.

The police said that Abukah Mahamood had been chased by a gang of about seven youths who had been wearing black hooded tops with bandanas covering their faces and carrying at least two guns. They had chased him through the Stockwell Gardens estate and had fired a couple of shots at him. Before he was shot he was seen to hide behind a tree. He was hit once in the neck.

A witness said 'The guy did it didn't even get off his bike. Once he had fired the shots, the gang escaped on their bikes. The boy was left lying there covered in blood. He wasn't making any noise or moving: I think they killed him instantly.'.

The youths were then seen riding off on their bikes through an alleyway by Packington House.

Paramedics spent about an hour at the scene attending to him before he died there. He died from a single gunshot wound to the neck.

He was said to have gone to the estate to visit a cousin.

Reports indicate that tension on the estate had been building for the last five years and that it was called the Hot Spot because it was the place to go to buy drugs. Young people even walked around wearing hooded tops with the terms Hot Spot and SW9 printed on them.

It was thought that the murder might have been linked to a recent argument that had taken place at a fair in Brockwell Park. It was also said that there had been tension between the Herne Hill gangs and Stockwell gangs.

Abukah Mahamood and his family were originally from Somalia and lived on the Tulse Hill Estate in south London.