The 19-year-old Domino's delivery driver, named locally as Lajean Richards, was knifed outside his family home in Battersea, South West London overnight
A TEENAGER was stabbed to death outside his family home last night - just 500 yards from Prince George's school.
Lajean Richards, 19, a Domino's delivery driver, was knifed repeatedly in a car park outside a four-storey block of flats where he lived with his mum.
He is the third teenager to be stabbed to death in London already this year.
Witnesses today recounted how the teen's mum ran "screaming" from the family home as paramedics battled in vain for 40 minutes to save the young man's life.
A witness told the Evening Standard: "I saw them pumping on his chest and doing open-heart surgery on him on the ground. I’m shaken, it’s my friend’s son."
Cops confirmed the teen died at the scene at 8.36pm - less than a five-minute walk from Prince George's £17,000-a-year Thomas's School in Battersea.
Two men, aged 19 and 27, were arrested on suspicion of murder after presenting themselves at a Central London hospital.
Both men have since been taken to separate police stations to be questioned.
I saw him on Friday and my last words to him were ‘be good bro stay out of trouble’.
Friend of Lajean
Lajean’s tearful mum Lavern Joseph paid tribute to her son today saying he had been "turning his life around" before his death.
She said: "Lajean was a loving son and brother, a young man determined to turn his life around.
"He will be sorely grieved by his family and friends and all that knew him."
A friend remembered Lajean, who had been working as a pizza delivery rider, as a "good, funny boy".
Sharna Finnigan said: "He was killed on his own doorstep right where his mother lives. We can’t believe it.”
Another pal said the teen had been trying to turn his life around after a short time in prison.
He said: "I saw him on Friday and my last words to him were ‘be good bro stay out of trouble’."
One friend said: “He was such a funny, popular guy. He knew some bad people but he was no gang member.
“He was just on the fringes. In some pictures on social media he is making what looks like a gang sign but it’s not. It’s just messing around.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the news of the latest murder in London was “heartbreaking”.
Carpenter Malachi Brooks was knifed to death on the same estate in 2017 on his way home from a party.
A shrine to the 22-year-old with flowers and a plaque is less than a five minute walk from where Lajean was murdered.
Lajean is the ninth person and third teenager to die from violent attacks in London this year.
Last week Nedim Bilgin, 17, was chased down a busy street in Islington and stabbed several times.
Jaden Moodie, 14, was stabbed to death in east London on January 8 after being knocked off a moped.
Figures yesterday revealed teenagers and children as young as ten make up half of the capital's knife crime offenders.
Forty-one per cent are aged 15-19 and a further eight per cent are 10-14, according to a Metropolitan Police analysis.
Knife crime and shootings are on the rise fuelled by gang rivalry and disputes over drug markets.
Last year's homicide rate in the capital was the highest in a decade, with 132 violent deaths in London.
The Mayor of London warned it could take a "decade" to turn the tide of violent crime.
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