Nightingale Estate murder is latest attack in two-week eruption of violence across north Hackney

The fatal stabbing of a young man outside a Lower Clapton primary school this morning is the latest episode in a two-week spate of violence within a half-mile radius.

A murder investigation is under way after a man, 21, was stabbed in the chest early this morning. It happened in Monteagle Way on the Nightingale Estate, Lower Clapton.

It comes after a man was shot in a chicken shop, a gun was fired, and two more people were stabbed over the course of a fortnight in Dalston, Stoke Newington and Lower Clapton.

Police were called just after midnight today and medics fought to save the stab victim’s life, but he died at the scene 15 minutes later.

A Dunnock Mews woman told the Gazette she had heard a loud noise that sounded like “metal on metal, like a car crash”.

She looked outside to see four people outside around the victim “trying to help him” before paramedics arrived.

Detectives say they know who the man is and have told his next of kin but no formal identification has taken place.

A police tent has been put up outside the Nightingale Primary School, and 16 police officers are now guarding the huge crime scene.

Rendlesham Road, Monteagle Way, Muir Road, Ottaway Street and Dunnock Mews have all been taped off, and officers are taking the names of residents who want to enter or leave the cordoned off area.

Although police say they are keeping an open mind about any motive to the man’s killing officers on guard told the Gazette gang tensions are running high, and criminals are “non-stop at it”. No one has been arrested over the murder.

Gang police are already investigating a shooting in a packed chicken shop in the early hours of Sunday, which left a man in hospital with serious injuries.

Two thugs kicked in the door of the Stoke Newington Road takeaway just before 1.20am and fired a gun before getting on their bikes and cycling off. No one has been arrested over that incident, either.

Shots had already been fired in Kyverdale Road, off Stoke Newington Common at 10pm on Friday night.

No suspects or victims were found by police but they did find “evidence of a firearm being discharged”.

Police said there had also been two stabbings in Shacklewell Lane, Dalston, in the past fortnight – just half a mile away.

Roads have been closed and Scotland Yard said there would be “significant traffic disruption” in the area.

People have been advised to avoid the area, and the 488 bus is on diversion.

This morning’s incident is at least the second serious stabbing on the Nightingale Estate in recent months. A 21-year-old was knifed repeatedly in the leg and abdomen in broad daylight on July 21 and taken to hospital.

Of that attack, James Macdaid of Nightingale Partnership Residents Association (NPRA) said: “I had to patch him up before medics arrived.

“Luckily, the knife was a thin knife, not a butcher’s knife, or the young lad would have been dead. Four wounds on his right ribs and a deeper wound on his upper thigh.

“The police tried to get hold of me in late August or early September, so a statement was given at the time of the attack, but there has been no follow-up with me to speak further on it.”

Police told the Gazette there were no witnesses to the stabbing itself and that the victim had not wanted to give a statement, so the case was dropped.

Anyone who may have seen or heard anything on the estate at about midnight on Monday going into Tuesday has been asked to contact the Homicide and Major Crime Command incident room on 020 8345 3865, 101, via Twitter @MetCC or anonymously at Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Additional reporting by Precious Adesina