Homerton High Street stab victim was straight A student who 'met the wrong people'
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Jeremie Malenge, 17, was killed in Homerton High Street, Hackney, late on Tuesday.
He was chased and stabbed three times in the chest before his attackers fled on foot.
Jeremie was found slumped in the road by neighbours who tried frantically to save his life before he was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.40pm.
Police have not made any arrests in connection with the murder, which is the seventh in London since New Year’s Day.
Mr Malenge’s heartbroken family today urged witnesses to come forward as they begged other young people to focus on careers, not crime.
His uncle Ernest Katula, 52, told the Standard: “Jeremie was an excellent young man. We loved him so much and we will always miss him.
“We will never forget him and we will never have peace until they find out who killed him.
“We just hope they find the killers and whoever else was involved and bring them to justice for Jeremie.”
He added: “Whoever is in a gang should come out before it’s too late, otherwise they will regret it and turn into something worse.
“Just put the knives down and concentrate on education.”
His family said the former straight-A pupil at Hackney’s Petchey Academy, the second oldest of six siblings, had lost contact with them in recent months after “falling in with the wrong crowd”.
He lost interest in a childhood ambition to study business at university.
Police believe Mr Malenge was with two friends at the Adonis supermarket when a row broke out with a group of three or four young men.
They chased him across the road and into Ponsford Street where he was stabbed to death.
A family member who asked not to be named said: “Before he left home he was quiet and wouldn’t harm a fly. The minute he moved out he became someone else.
