Police at the spot where the boy had staggered to after he was stabbed (the shop in the background is unconnected to the crime)
(Picture: John Dunne)Two men have been arrested after a 12-year-old boy was stabbed following a confrontation in an east London shop.
Detectives were questioning the pair on Wednesday after trouble flared at the Red Mini Market in Plaistow.
Police were scrambled to the scene at just after 8.15pm on Tuesday.
Witnesses claimed it followed an earlier incident in the shop when a group of boys refused to leave the store.
A local restaurant worker said: “Boys were in the shop earlier in the evening. They were stealing or making trouble and were told to get out. When they refused the staff took one of their backpacks. They then ran off. A bit later a group of eight of them, all young boys came back. They were smashing up the shop.
“The staff in the shop chased the boys out, I saw someone with a brick. I didn’t see a knife but now I know someone was stabbed. It’s absolutely terrible.”
A resident, 34, whose flat overlooks the shop, said: “There was a big group of boys. They were shouting, then there was a chase. It was very violent, it all centred on the shop.”
The boy was on Wednesday being treated in hospital for non life-threatening injuries. A man in his 30s has been arrested on suspicion of GBH and a man in his 60s on suspicion of affray.
After the stabbing, the boy reportedly staggered to nearby Brook’s Road.
A police cordon was thrown up around the area as detectives trawl for clues and analyse CCTV footage. Crime scene specialists were also inside the shop.
A man described how he heard the schoolboy screaming for help as he lay in the road following the attack.
He told the Standard: “I saw him staggering, he had a leg wound. He was in shock he was shouting ‘he stabbed me’. There were loads of people running away - it was chaos.”
A resident in Brook’s Road said: “We saw a boy on the ground calling for help. There was some blood and other boys running on all directions. Then the police arrived.
“It was pandemonium. I can’t believe a 12 year old has been stabbed in our doorstep.”
A police statement said: “Police were called at 8.17pm to Brook’s Road, E13 following reports of a stabbing.
“A boy, aged 12, was found with a stab injury. He was treated at the scene before being taken to hospital; where his condition was not life threatening.
“One male, aged 30s, was arrested on suspicion of GBH and another in his 60s, for affray.
The incident follows the fatal stabbing of a man at the Notting Hill Carnival.
Girlfriend Oshian Edwards, who said that she is expecting his baby, paid tribute on Instagram, writing: “I’m sat here with sore eyes and a heavy heart as I’ve cried consistently for the last 12 hours while carrying your unborn son.
“I will remind him daily about how great you were as a son, brother, boyfriend and friend too.”
On Wednesday Boris Johnson defended his Government’s track record on tackling crime, as he praised the latest Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which he claims “is giving the police the powers they need to give criminals the tough sentences that they deserve”.
The Prime Minister this morning attended a raid with specialist officers near Lewisham, south London, where he spoke to staff from one of the 20 so-called “violence reduction units”, aimed at preventing crime with earlier intervention and closer working between health, education and policing organisations.
