The teenager stabbed to death during knife awareness course at Uxbridge Civic Centre has been named.
Hakim Sillah was killed during a fight that took place inside the Civic Centre, High Street, Uxbridge, on Thursday afternoon.
A third person, in his teens, suffered a stab wound whilst heroically trying to break up the fight and has been praised by police for his bravery.
The victim had been dropped her off at the knife awareness session by his mother less than an hour before. The Metroplitan Police and London Ambulance service were called to reports of a stabbing at the Youth Offending Service in the Civic Centre shortly before 4.40pm where the teenage victim was found with a serious stab injury.
He was taken to a west London hospital, where he died shortly before 5.30pm.
A 17-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons has been arrested on suspicion of Murder and is being questioned by detectives in relation to the incident at the civic centre.
In a short statement, Hakim’s family have said: “Hakim was a lovely lad who cared about his family and preferred spending time at home with his family. He loved looking after his little brother, who had been ill. The parents and family of Hakim would be grateful for any information from members of the public to help this investigation.”
Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh, who is leading the investigation for the Metropolitan Police, said the victims family had been left absolutely broken by the loss.
DCI McHugh also said: “This is an absolute tragedy. A young man with his whole life ahead of him has been attacked and killed and his family are absolutely devastated.
We are doing everything we can to find those involved. What we know so far is that a fight broke out between males at the location and as a result this young man received fatal injuries. A second independent male bravely tried to intervene to break up the fight and as a result was also stabbed.
We want to hear from anyone who was there so we can understand what happened prior to the murder taking place and events immediately afterwards. One male is currently in custody and is being interviewed.
We’ve made an arrest and we are not looking for anyone else at this time but equally we need witnesses to come forward or people who hold information.”
Police are appealing to people who may have video footage of the incident to share it with the police.
Hillingdon Council said in a statement “The matter is being investigated by the police and we are unable to comment further at this stage”.
Uxbridge MP and Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted regarding the incident saying “his thoughts were with the victims family and friends.”
Anyone who witnessed it or has information is asked to call police on 020 8785 8099, tweet @MetCC or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
