Latest stabbing of teenage aspiring rapper highlights London’s struggle with gang violence and youth crime

LONDON — A 14-year-old boy who was stabbed to death this week on a London bus was the first victim this year of a knife-crime problem that has plagued the British capital for years.

Aspiring rapper Kelyan Bokassa was stabbed on Tuesday afternoon while on a double-decker bus in the Woolwich area of southeast London. Emergency services were unable to save him and he died at the scene.

Photographs of the teenager published in British newspapers yesterday showed a smiling young boy who, according to his mother, had been targeted by gang members.

His death comes after 10 teenagers were fatally stabbed in London last year and 18 in 2023, with each death prompting tributes and pledges to stamp out gang violence and knife crime.

But even with tighter controls on the availability of weapons, public concern remains, with official figures showing an upward trend in offences using knives and sharp instruments, including homicides, mostly in big cities such as London.

The day before his death, an 18-year-old boy was seriously injured in a stabbing a few kilometres away.

In September last year, a 15-year-old boy, reportedly a close friend of Kelyan, was also stabbed to death in Woolwich, in what the prosecutor described as retaliation linked to a turf war.