A Hackney weapons disposal charity has demanded action to cut the number of weapons in circulation and curtail the deaths on London’s streets.
The call comes in the wake of the killing of young father Moses Fadairo, 25, on 26 September.
Mr Fadairo was gunned down in broad daylight on Chatsworth Road. He staggered into the Mighty Meats butcher after being shot, before running 50 yards down the road and collapsing in a pool of blood.
Twenty-seven year-old Christopher Erunse of Greenwich was charged with his murder on 1 October.
Tributes to Mr Fadairo have poured in on social media, and flowers have been laid around the murder scene. Nightly candle-lit vigils were held around Chatsworth Road after the murder occurred.
Michael Smith, founder of Word 4 Weapons, says community organisations are crucially important in any attempt to reduce such violence, but that they needed the funding and independence to deal with it from the bottom up.
“In a time of police cuts, we have the capacity to go into schools and do the education on knives and firearms that is so key to prevention.
“We can take pressure off police budgets, and can help to support people on the edge of falling foul of the law. Prison often simply ends up as being a university for criminals.”
Mr Smith said that community programmes were an important part of any prevention strategy: “Police weapon amnesties alone often don’t work effectively, because they are usually held outside police stations.”
The fear of being identified by CCTV, or being arrested, is highly discouraging to potential depositors targeted by such amnesties. The ability to deposit one’s weapon without fear of police intervention is important to get people to come forward.
Word 4 Weapons has collected more than 15,000 knives since 2009 through its anonymous receptacles, and operates 30 such weapon deposit bins around London.
However, such crucial work was not enough to save Mr Fadairo, who leaves behind three small children.
Photo by: Ian Rathbone
