Posted by Tribune on
SIX years after a Nigerian schoolboy, Damilola Taylor, was stabbed to death in London, another Nigerian schoolboy, 15-year-old Michael Dosunmu, was yesterday shot dead by gunmen.
SIX years after a Nigerian schoolboy, Damilola Taylor, was stabbed to death in London, another Nigerian schoolboy, 15-year-old Michael Dosunmu, was yesterday shot dead by gunmen.
Michael was shot dead just three days after he celebrated his 15th birthday on Sunday and in the same Peckham area of London where Damilola was stabbed to death.
He was murdered after the killers broke into the family's home in Peckham, south London, and searched the rooms.
They also shot at the bed of his 17-year-old sister, Ololade, known as Lola, but she escaped after pretending to be asleep.
Their father, Kazeem Oladapo, 50, yesterday told close friends his daughter had been left traumatised.
Julius Shebioba, pastor at the Celestial Church of Christ in London, who has known the family for 20 years, said: 'The girl said she heard a bang as somebody kicked the front door open. She heard them running towards her bedroom.
'She covered her head with the duvet and heard them run into her room. They pulled her duvet off her and she pretended to be asleep so they left the room.
'They did the same with her younger brother and shot him in the bed. He didn't even have time to get up."
He said Lola rushed to give first aid to her brother as the gunmen fled. Michael spoke to her briefly before paramedics arrived and he was taken to King's College Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Mr. Shebioba said: 'According to his father, he was a perfect, sweet, gentle boy.
'If it had happened on the street, that would be one thing, but to be attacked in their own home at the time of night is a different story."
Police believe Michael was killed by two men in what they called ‘a targeted attack' just before 1.00 a.m. yesterday at the home in Diamond Street. Afterwards, two men were seen fleeing down Chandler Way.
Shebioba said the family were baffled as to why church-going Michael was targeted.
'I don't know who could have done this. There must be some motive," he said. 'These teenage killings are becoming too common." The pastor spent most of yesterday at the hospital where Michael's father had been admitted with head injuries on Saturday.
Neighbours have told how he was beaten unconscious when intruders broke into the family home. It is not known whether the attack is linked to Michael's murder.
Police broke the news of his son's death to Mr. Dosunmu as he lay in his hospital bed at 3.30 a.m. yesterday. Michael's mother, Shakira, is currently in Nigeria visiting relatives.
Michael, who celebrated his 15th birthday on Sunday, was a pupil at St. Michael's Secondary School in Bermondsey. He also has an older brother, Abilou, known locally as ‘Soldier' after serving in the Iraq war.
Officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Trident team, which investigates gun crime in the black community, have not found any link between the boy and local gangs and are examining the possibility it could have been a case of mistaken identity.
Detectives have spoken to Lola to see if Michael may have identified the killers before he died. Detective, Superintendent Gary Richardson, leading the inquiry, said there was currently nothing to link the murder to other shootings in the area in the past week.
He said: 'This boy was not known to police. We believe he was a quiet, well-mannered schoolboy who went to church and was not involved in any criminality. It was a dreadful incident."