I Warned My Child Not To Go Out With Friends –Oniru, Mother Of 19-Year-old Nigerian Shot Dead in London

A 19-year-old Nigerian, Kelvin Odunuyi, was on Thursday shot dead by unknown persons while he stood with friends at the entrance of Vue Cinemas in Wood Green, London. The victim, a rapper who performed under the name, DipDat, and was also known as Lampz, was pronounced dead two hours after he was taken to the hospital.

But speaking about the incident, which was said to have occurred at about 12:30am, the mother of the victim, Mrs. Afishetu Oniru, told EveningStandard, a United Kingdom-based news medium, that she warned him not to go see his friends but that he didn’t listen.

She told the newspaper at their family home in Harrow on Friday that she began having fears about the safety of her family since they moved to the area.

She said, “I have always lived in London but when we moved to Wood Green for a short time, I got scared for my family. We now live in Harrow and I told him not to go back to Wood Green to see friends, but he did and now he is dead after being shot dead in a random attack. Police said he was at the wrong place at a wrong time.

“He was with a big group when two boys on bicycles came along shooting – he was hit, it’s a tragedy. I am devastated.

“I knew he would be safe at home with me but he went there and now he is dead. Another mother is grieving, enough is enough. The government needs to act to stop the bloodshed. He was a lovely jovial boy. He was clever and loved by all who knew him…he had everything going for him.”

The distraught mother noted that relatives, including his father who runs a property business in Nigeria, had paid her son’s fees at the prestigious £26,000-a-year Fulneck School in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, as a boarder, and that he had ambitions to work in the oil industry.

Meanwhile, shortly after the killing, eyewitnesses said they saw two masked men leaving the area in a moped – like a motorcycle. As of the time of filing this report, police said no arrests had been made, while phone numbers were released for use by anyone who had useful information.

However, an eyewitness said, “I saw these two boys in balaclavas on a black scooter come round the corner and the one on the back opened fire as they were rolling past. I saw his body on the floor and his friends were around him. I didn’t know until later that it was Kelvin. It’s a war zone round here.”

According to the report, a police source confirmed that the killing was being treated as gang-related, but it was also gathered that the victim was not a gang member but socialised with people who were gang members.

The report also noted that the killing was thought to be a product of “postcode war” between gangs in Wood Green and nearby Tottenham.

Detective Chief Inspector, Luke Marks, said, “We believe two people made off on a moped shortly after the incident and this is one line of enquiry that we’re actively pursuing.”