Mum-of-nine and nephew shot dead by gang of five in London flat

UK: A 52-year-old mother of nine Anny Ekofo and her 21-year-od nephew Bervely Ekofo have been shot dead by a gang of five who stormed a flat in north London early Thursday morning. Beverly was shot before the weapons were turned on his aunt, Anny.

Armed police officers arrived at the flat in Elmhurst Crescent in East Finchley, and found the victims suffering from gunshot wounds  at about 6.30am as the victims were  pronounced dead at the scene.

The flat was filled with family members, including Anny's husband Jean-Pierre, at the time of the attack.

A family friend who spoke with the BBC, said five people stormed into the flat and shot the two of them.

Police has launched a murder investigation into the murder but no arrests have been made yet.

 

Anny's cousin Fifi Selo, 38, told reporters that she rushed to East Finchley after the police called her at 8am today.

"We cannot explain what happened. We don't know if it was because of their colour. It's a shock.
"They were an amazing family.
"They were a nice couple and they had nine children. We don't know where they are.'' Fifi said

In a tribute to her cousin she said:

"She was a big, beautiful woman. A mum to everybody.
"You can't even imagine what kind of person she was - she was amazing.
"She brought everybody together. She was everybody's mum.
"We don't know what happened. We just got a call saying they had been shot.
"She came over from Congo in 1991. She has nine kids.
"I didn't expect this to happen. It's crazy."

An unnamed family member said:

"It's a case of wrong place, wrong time.
"There were lots of people in the flat at the time. A gang of five forces their way in, came through the front door and shot Beverly.
"Beverly doesn't live here. He was spending the night with his auntie.
"Five people burst in the doors. He got shot in the head and they shot Anny.”

A neighbour who lives a floor below, Rob Crouchley, said:

"I didn't hear the gunshots. I heard some woman, it sounded like she was wailing, and there was some geezer shouting.

"It sounded like they were arguing, because there was a male voice and a female voice going back and forth.

"The commotion woke me up. I went outside an there was some lady shouting, 'get an ambulance, get an ambulance'.

"There were armed police everywhere, loads of police cars.

"I heard a policeman say through his radio, 'Someone has been shot in the head, someone has been shot in the shoulder - there's loads of blood'. 

An eyewitness Lizzy Holsgrove tweeted:

"Something absolutely nuts going down on my road. Road blocked off, 20 police cars, 8 ambulances and police talking about shots fired."

"Definitely seems like someone's been shot. I always thought it was such a nice road" she added in a separate post:

A Met Police spokesman said:

"Police were called by London Ambulance Service at approximately 6.25am on Thursday, 15 September to reports of two people injured at an address in Elmshurst Crescent, N2.

"Officers attended and found two people - a man and a woman - suffering gunshot injuries.

"Both were pronounced dead at the scene."

"There are no reports of any other injuries. The Homicide and Major Crime Command are investigating. There have been no arrests."

The family are believed to be of Congolese descent and have been in the UK for about 25 years.