Scotland Yard has launched its 81st murder investigation this year after a 20-year-old man was stabbed to death in Edmonton, north London.
London’s Metropolitan Police said officers were called, shortly after 6:30 pm on Wednesday, to reports of a brawl between baseball bat-wielding men.
The victim was found with stab wounds on Cavendish Road, despite paramedics’ attempts to save him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
"At this early stage officers retain an open mind as to motive," a police spokesman said.
The 20-year-old’s death comes just hours after Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt warned "feral” knife attacks, where people are stabbed multiple times and with brutal weapons such as machetes, are driving up London's murder rate.
Speaking at the London Knife Crime Summit, he said: “The violence is getting greater. If I was stood here five years ago, I would probably be talking about knife offenses where there was generally a single puncture wound.
"We are now routinely seeing multiple stabbings. That is one individual stabbing somebody multiple times," the Assistant Commissioner said. "And increasingly seeing group offending as well.
“By that I don't mean there's a group and one person is stabbing, I mean there's a group of people who are all using weapons.
"Some of the CCTV footage that we see is shocking and quite frankly feral when you look at a group of individuals bearing down on another person.”
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