Luton Stab Death
28 May 2013, 07:12 | Updated: 28 May 2013, 07:18
A murder investigation's been started after a 20 year old man was stabbed to death at home on Luton's Marsh Farm estate.
The stabbing happened on the evening of Luton's International Carnival Day, Sunday 26 May 2013.
The 20 year old was found hurt in the terraced home on Thrales Close, Marsh Farm, that he shares with his mother. An ambulance crew and armed police rushed to Thrales Close at around 8.15pm on Sunday where the victim was found bleeding heavily.
He was taken to the Luton and Dunstable hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after his admission.
Detectives said they were keeping an open mind about the motive for the murder, but residents believe it is the latest attack in the gang war between youths from the Marsh Farm and Lewsey Farm Estates in Luton. Three people have been murdered since September and there have been 11 shootings since the beginning of the year.
DCI Stephen Collin, of the Beds, Herts and Cambridgeshire Major Crime Unit, is appealing for information.
He said: "There are three key persons of interest we are seeking in the inquiry. They have been caught on CCTV. They are a black male on a bike, a black male with a dog and white female, probably a teenager, with red dyed hair in a pony tail. It is really important that they come forward or people on Marsh Farm provide information on who they are.
"The victim would have known who his attacker or attackers were. It was a targeted attack."
A post mortem was due to be carried out on Tuesday 28 May.
The area around the three-bed terraced house was taped off on Bank Holiday Monday 27 May as forensic officers examined the scene. The car park at the back of the house, which was strewn with beer and spirit bottles, was also cordoned off.
On 11 May, a 16 year old was shot in the back in the neighbouring Thricknells Close. Police said he may never walk again.
In the past year there has been violence in Luton involving rival gangs from the Marsh Farm and Lewsey Farm Estates. Earlier this month Kyle Beckford, 22, a member of the Marsh Farm gang, was jailed for a minimum of 24 years from the murder of Delaney Brown, 19, who was run over while on a push bike last September. Delaney was in the Lewsey Farm gang.
On 12 April, Delaney's uncle Paul Foster, 46, who was known as Big Shyne, was shot dead outside a house in Brunel Road.
This weekend a man from Luton was charged with attempted murder and possessing a gun after shots were fired at a BMW by a man riding a motorbike in Culverhouse Road on 5 May after a peace rally in the town. Khadeem Newell, 22, of Jasmine Road, Luton, appeared before magistrates and was remanded in custody.
A woman who lives nearby said: "I am 75 years old. I live here on my own. It is frightening. There is too much of it going on."
Another man said: "This is a disease spreading across the estate. It is a drug turf war. They are silly young lads with nothing to do. It is the Marsh Farm and Lewsey Farm gangs. They have got to stop messing around with knives and guns."