By PAUL BENTLEY, ARTHUR MARTIN and TEPHEN WRIGHT
A gifted 16-year-old girl who was shot in the neck by teenage gangsters on bikes has died.
Agnes Sina-Inakoju lost her fight for life at an East London hospital at 5.30am today.
She had been talking to friends in a takeaway restaurant on Wednesday night when two youths rode up on mountain bikes and one of them fired a shot through a window.
It is believed the murderers had intended to kill another person in the group she was with at the shop.
Police said they believed the popular pupil was the innocent victim of an increasingly violent turf war between rival drugs gangs in Hackney, North-East London.
Detectives have launched a murder investigation into the shooting, which took place at the Hoxton Chicken & Pizza fast food outlet in Hoxton Street.
DCI John Crossley, leading the investigation, said: 'At this early stage, we believe two males approached the premises on mountain bikes.
'One fired a shot through the window, hitting the victim who was inside the premises with friends.
'The suspects are described as black and aged between 14 and 18 years, and both were wearing dark clothing. They made off down Falkirk Street towards Kingsland Road'.
Agnes suffered a gunshot wound to her neck, and was taken by ambulance to an East London hospital where she died this morning.
Last night, it emerged that a passing GP stemmed the flow of blood after the shooting.
Agnes's injuries were so serious that paramedics were forced to operate on her as she lay on the floor.
Next of kin have been informed and a post-mortem examination will be held in due course.
DCI Crossley said it was 'highly likely' that Agnes was not the intended target.
He said: 'There is nothing to indicate that she was a member of a gang'.
Police sources said the 'gang feud' theory was one of several lines of inquiry being explored.
'We are keeping an open mind on what prompted this attack,' said one officer.
Agnes's family had been keeping a bedside vigil at the Royal London Hospital.
The shooting follows a sharp rise in gun crime in London over the past year.
There has been a 29.1 per cent increase in firearms offences in Hackney, and a 14.2 per cent rise across the capital.
There are also wider concerns about teenage gang violence after 13 youths were charged with murdering schoolboy Sofyen Belamouadden, 15, who was stabbed to death at Victoria Underground station last month.
Residents insist Agnes was the innocent victim of an escalation in violence between the notorious London Fields Boys and the rival Hoxton Boys gang.
A local, who did not want to be named, said Hackney was a 'terrifying' place to live.
'The Hoxton Boys started selling drugs from this street and the London Fields Boys aren't happy they're on their patch,' he said.
'It's not just the boys. The girls ride around on bikes with their hoods up looking to stab other girls'.
Before the teenager's death this morning a family member said: 'It is so awful.
None of us can believe this has happened to Agnes. She is such a good girl.
'She was a very happy person and has never been in any trouble.
'Her mother can't stop crying. It must have been a stray bullet. We can't believe anyone would try to hurt Agnes'.
A school friend added: 'She's really hard-working and one of the cleverest girls in our year. We had GCSE mocks and she did amazingly. She was predicted almost all As'.
The owner of the restaurant, who also asked not to be named, said there were about nine teenagers in his takeaway at the time.
'There was a gunshot and then a huge commotion,' he said.
'The girl who was hit had her back turned to the window. The person that fired the gun wouldn't even have seen her face.
'People were screaming and diving over the counter. It was awful. I looked over and this young girl was lying flat on her back with blood pouring out of her neck.
'There was an off-duty doctor who tried to help her, but she was in a really bad way. She wasn't conscious. When the paramedics came they opened her up there on the floor. There was blood everywhere'.
A neighbouring shopkeeper said: 'Apparently the boys with the guns just casually left - they didn't even rush away'.
Daily Mail
