Kill him, kill him, the girls chanted... seconds later Kodjo was knife to death

A schoolboy was stabbed to death in the street after a gang of boys and girls chased him chanting, "Kill him, kill him".

Kodjo Yenja, 16, was left dying in a pool of blood after being stabbed and beaten.

More here:

• The website tributes to another 'fallen soulja'

• Background: Series of violent teenager deaths

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Four 13-year-old boys were among seven suspects being questioned by police last night.

The killing follows the deaths of four boys in a fortnight of gangrelated violence in London last month.

The latest tragedy unfolded in a quiet prosperous area of West London, home to Ralph Fiennes, John Humphrys and Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell.

Kodjo was stabbed at 5.30pm on Wednesday in Hammersmith Grove, near Shepherd's Bush.

Last night his girlfriend, known as Cookie, told how she cradled his head as they waited for an ambulance.

'I was saying, "Please tell me you are not going to die because I need you, I need you",' she said. Kodjo had been stabbed twice in the chest and had cuts to his legs, she said.

The couple had been walking back from Hammersmith after having dinner with her mother and had picked up her pet dog, she said.

She claimed a stranger had approached Kodjo in the street and challenged him to a fight.

At first he refused but eventually told the other boy: "Come on, let's do this then".

The pair started fighting on Hammersmith Grove before seven or eight other teenagers armed with knives, hammers and bats appeared and joined in, she said.

Minaxi Patel, 48, who works in a nearby convenience store, told how she saw a youth being chased by a group of boys and girls screaming insults.

"I heard them coming up the road, there was a group of boys and about three girls," she said.

"The black boy was in front of them. It looked like he was trying to get away. The girls were screaming 'kill him, kill him'. Then they ran off down the road.

"The boy fell over a couple of times but got up again and carried on up the road."

One resident said: "I saw them running past me with a knife. It was at least 10-12 inches long. They were all hyped up, very threatening."

Another said the mob had been after the Staffordshire bull terrier with Kodjo.

"It was a robbery, it was all about the dog," one said.

"They were after it and he wasn't having any of it so he got stabbed. It's not about the money, it's about the reputation."

Another shopkeeper, who did not want to be named, said: "The boy seemed to be trying to avoid getting into a fight with the others.

"He was walking backwards as if he was keeping an eye on what the others were doing behind him."

One resident said the teenager desperately raised his arms to defend himself from the mob. Some had armed themselves with 3ft sticks from a skip.

"The boy was backing off, and had his arms up to protect himself while they were whacking him with the sticks. It was almost like a lynch mob."

The driver of a 4x4 is said to have been forced to stop as two boys ran across the road. Police were questioning him as a vital witness last night.

The gang split up and disappeared into the network of residential streets as paramedics arrived to treat the stabbed boy.

He was taken by ambulance to Charing Cross Hospital in a critical condition and died less than an hour later.

Friends and classmates at St Charles Roman Catholic Sixth Form College in Ladbroke Grove, close to where Kodjo lives, paid tribute to him yesterday.

"He wasn't a troublemaker. He was a really calm person and always well spoken," one said.

"He was really involved in his music and also liked to play football."

Police are appealing for information about the murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Nash said: "We know there would have been a lot of people in the area at the time of the murder and I would urge anyone who saw what happened or who has any information about those responsible to come forward to police."

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said the seven youths in custody were black. Aside from the four 13-year-olds, two are 15 and one is 21.

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