The shooting of an innocent eight-year-old girl is the latest outbreak of gun violence to blight the West London neighbourhood of Ladbroke Grove.
Armed officers were called at 5.34pm on Sunday to reports of a gunman firing ‘four or five shots’ into a car on the street as the girl’s mother was heard shouting, ‘My baby, my baby’s been shot.’
Police have now arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder, with the youngster and a 34-year-old man remaining in hospital in a ‘serious but stable condition’. A two-year-old child and a 32-year-old woman were also in the car but escaped unharmed.
Ladbroke Grove is in the North of Kensington and Chelsea, which has the distinction of being both Britain’s richest and one of the most unequal, with multi-million pound houses standing cheek by jowl with areas blighted by crime.
While there has not yet been a suggestion that Sunday’s shooting was gang related, it comes against the backdrop of a turf war being fought in the area between rival criminal groups.
Sunday’s shooting took place on Southern Row in Ladbroke Grove. The spot is just yards away from Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park, where a 15-year-old boy was ‘assassinated’ in July
Ladbroke Grove is in the North of Kensington and Chelsea, which has the distinction of being both Britain’s richest and one of the most unequal
The shooting took place on Southern Row just yards away from Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park, where a 15-year-old boy was ‘assassinated’ in July at a music event held annually before the Notting Hill Carnival – Europe’s largest street party which takes place locally.
Rene Graham was surrounded by parents and children when he was gunned down at Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park – also known as ‘Teletubbies Park’ – in the north of Kensington and Chelsea at 7.20pm on July 21. No one has been charged over his murder.
Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park is in the W10 postcode, close to the border with W9. Locals claimed at the time that there had been raised ‘tensions’ between gangs of youths in the two areas, which are separated by a footbridge running over a canal.
The carnival itself is regularly marred by outbreaks of violence, with 2024 seeing eight stabbings and more than 300 arrests.
Roy Ramm, former commander of specialist operations at the Met, previously said gangs ‘seem to reject the spirit of carnival’ and ‘take the opportunity to settle scores’ while former Met PC Ken Marsh called it a ‘perfect storm’ for violence.
Following Rene Graham’s murder, locals claimed that two gangs operating near the area have been involved in a long running ‘war’ with each other – the Ladbroke Grove Boys (LGB), who are based on the Kensal New Town Estate, and the Harrow Road Boys (HRB) from the Mozart Estate.
Beverley Campbell who was at the Park Lime event told MailOnline: ‘Everybody around here knows about the war between the LGB and HRB. This is quite a rough area and gang members attacking each other is not a new thing.’
Rene Graham, aged 15, was shot dead in Ladbroke Grove in July
The Mozart Estate has a reputation for gang crime and is seen on the right next to new build flats on the left
Olaseni Soyinka, 37, another local resident, added: ‘There are constant problems around here, our youngsters are out of control. When they’re not fighting each other, they’re causing a lot of anti-social nuisance by robbing local shops, letting off fireworks and damaging our cars. We don’t bother calling the police because they don’t do anything.’
The Mozart Estate – which is near to the scene of Sunday’s shooting – was completed in 1974 and is made up of 737 houses and flats in 25 medium-rise blocks. Since then, it has acquired a reputation as one of the capital’s ‘sink estates’.
It is just a stone’s throw away from multi-million-pound homes and flats in Notting Hill that are home to A listers and are among the most expensive properties in the country.
The average house in Ladbroke Grove costs more than £2.7million and the average flat over £1million.
Kensington and Chelsea has the biggest disposable income gap between neighbourhoods in the country, according to the Office of National Statistics, ranging from £63,900 in wealthy Hans Town to £22,600 in Golborne and Swinbrook – where Rene Graham was shot on Sunday.
Crime levels vary dramatically as well, with Met Police data analysed by the Telegraph showing Golborne ranked 19th across London for knife crime with a rate of 3.3 crimes per 1,000 people.
Abingdon, a few miles down the road, has a sixth of that rate, 0.5, and ranks 580th overall.
In 2020, seven thugs from the Ladbroke Grove Boys (LGB) and the Harrow Road Boys (HRB) were jailed for taking part in a knife and machete fight in front of terrified shoppers.
The local area has been blighted by gang crime, with locals describing a feud between groups in the W9 and W10 postcode areas. They are separated by a footbridge running over a canal (pictured)
In 2020, a brutal fight took place in Ladbroke Grove between gang rivals. ‘Drill’ rappers Jordan Bedeau, 18, (front) Rhys Herbert, 19, (behind) were jailed for between two and three years
‘Drill’ rappers Jordan Bedeau, 18, Rhys Herbert, 19, and a 17-year-old associate who were members of the LGB were jailed for between two and three years. Four members of the HRB were also jailed for between two and three years.
During the fight two female members of the public were violently barged by a knife wielding attacker, with one gang member stabbed in the stomach and another left with a life changing facial scar.
In 2018, five members of the LGB were sentenced after being caught with machetes and baseball bats. Police also applied for a court order to stop the group making drill music.
Officers caught the gang ‘red-handed’ on 9 November 2017 after a two-year anti-gang operation. The members of the LGB were thought to have been about to attack rivals from the 12 Worlds gang from Shepherds Bush and the HRB.
A total of 21 teenagers were killed in London last year, with 18 stabbed, two were shot and one killed after his moped was struck by a car.
There were some 14,500 knife crimes recorded in the city overall — almost 40 a day — up from nearly 11,500 in the previous year.
