Music video shoot masked raiders guilty of murdering boy and man

BBC News

4 days ago

Five masked men have been found guilty of murdering a 15-year-old and a young man as well as the attempted murder of a third man at a music video shoot.Teenager Leonardo Reid and Klevi Shekaj, 23, were fatally stabbed and 28-year-old Abdullah Abdullahi was severely injured when the knife-wielding men descended on the event in Archway, north London, in 2023.The killers were convicted at the Old Bailey of all charges after the jury deliberated for more than 53 hours in a long-running trial that began in March.They will be sentenced on 25 and 26 September.
The defendants, who all denied murder and attempted murder, were:Lorik Lupqi, 21, of no fixed addressJason Furtado, 28, of Halton Road, IslingtonAbel Chunda, 29, of Highgate Hill, N19Xavier Poponne, 22, of Halton Road, IslingtonEden Clark, 31, of no fixed address
The Old Bailey heard that Leonardo and his brother had been watching the music video being filmed with friends when a black-clad figure wearing a balaclava was spotted crouching down and moving towards them with a large knife.The brother ran away but Leonardo was stabbed in the chest, the wound cutting through his left lung and one of the major blood vessels in his body, causing fatal blood loss.Mr Shekaj was knifed in the back, with the wound cutting through his left lung and deep into his body. He was taken to hospital but died on arrival.Mr Abdullahi, a passer-by, was struck with a machete in his knee, head and abdomen.
Bragged about killing
The jury was told that on the evening of the attack, a large group had gathered on the Elthorne Estate to record a music video for an artist called Tight Road Baby.The atmosphere was said to be happy although the volume had irritated some of the local residents and police had attended at about 22:30 BST to disperse the crowd, the court heard.A number of youths remained in the area when the killers arrived in a taxi wearing balaclavas and holding knives. Two were wearing electronic ankle tags.
After the "murderous" attack, the taxi took Chunda, Poponne, Clark and Lupqi away from the scene to Chunda's home.Jurors were told of lyrics recovered from Popone's phones in which he allegedly "glorified" the killings and bragged he "got me a trio".Four of the defendants were arrested between July 2023 and May 2024, while Lupqi, who had cut off his tag and fled to Kosovo, was extradited back to the UK in November 2024 when he too was arrested.Members of the victims' families in court wiped away tears as Judge Anuja Dhir KC thanked jurors for their "care, attention and diligence".