A 15-year-old girl shot dead in a house in Hackney, east London, on Saturday afternoon has been named as Shereka Fab-Ann Marsh.Who’s surprised at the protagonists in this? Yeah. Me too. And the photos grabbed off Facebook and plastered all over the press show her to be 15 but clearly going on 27…
Is there the obligatory chavshrine?
Friends gathered close to the terraced house where the incident took place and laid flowers while forensic crime officers continued their investigation behind a cordon.Some words of wisdom from her friends:
"Shereka only went to drop off his birthday present, and somehow she got shot," one said. "Nobody knows how yet. It's awful."
Another friend said: "I don't know why there was a gun there when [he] was celebrating his 15th birthday, but this is Hackney."This …. Is….HACKNEY!!! Not Sparta. In case there should be any doubt. I’d be surprised if the life expectancy wasn’t similar though…
On Sunday night her headmaster, Richard Brown, said the school was "stunned by the completely unexpected and tragic death" of the year 11 student who on Friday had been helping raise money for Sport Relief. "It is absolutely out of the blue," he said. "You couldn't have a more innocent victim … Shereka was a bright able student and was on track to be really successful in her GCSEs. She was a great role model for other younger students. She would not knowingly be involved with anything that would have contributed to her death."Right. Of course not. Never. Perish the thought.
The traditional Hackney parenting? Very much so:
Chainelle Jennings, 16, said her friend was "a nice bubbly girl and she loved to party, loved shopping"… She added Shereka was an only child who lived with a "very protective" mother while her father lives in Jamaica.I’m sure he contributes to her upkeep, though? Baby needs new
Krista Brown, an ambassador for the national apprenticeship service, whose son Shad Brown knew Shereka and the boys who were being questioned, described it as "a tragic situation for both sides of the coin".
"This is a local community," she said. "They're our kids. What people fail to realise is that this is our kids' reality."Is it? How terribly sad. Well, I suppose you must really want it that way, given any attempt to change it is met with resistance from the usual suspects. It’s notable, too, that this unfortunate death is unlikely to garner any protest marches or anguished columns in CiF.
Of course, not content with the actual, meatspace shrine, there’s the ubiquitous virtual one to contend with:
An "RIP Shereka" Facebook page created to host tributes to the schoolgirl referenced suggestions that she was accidentally shot. Loopylou Olliffe wrote: "RIP sweet princess. These evil people need to be stopped. Thinking praying and sending my love to you family in these sad times god bless you all xxx". Elaine Pearson, an NHS nurse, added: "OMG …How do they get these guns?"Yeah, Elaine. It’s a real mystery. Innit?
Krista Brown ... described it as "a tragic situation for both sides of the coin".
ReplyDeleteNice mixing of metaphors there Krista .. innit?
15 and no kid yet? I bet she was looked down upon by all her m8s.
ReplyDeleteJaded
PS I can't believe it Julia but you haven't picked up on the story of the Steven Lawrence shrine getting "vandalised" by a vase getting knocked over (allegedly) and a police van being parked there all day as protection.Chop chop.
Fear not, Jaded, that one will indeed make an appearance here....
ReplyDeleteAs an authentic lunkhead in public service, WC Jaded's comments will comfort family and friends of the bereaved as much as they will delight her boss, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe.
ReplyDeleteBunny
ReplyDeleteI notice the Graun describing her as 'popular' whatever could they be inferring?
Allow me to translate;
ReplyDeleteshe was a lowlife spunkbucket who got killed by another lowlife, who may, or may not have been, a gang banger nigger.
There, FTFY.
What is depressing is that I imagined it to be an Op Trident situation even before the names were announced.
ReplyDeleteWhat is more depressing is that she will not be the last black youth to be shot or stabbed to death.
Don't worry Melvin I posted a tribute on facebook for her and I left a teddy on the shrine outside the house.
ReplyDeleteThe world has lost a potential drug-dealers babymother,and if really lucky a girl with a chuff-box full of cocaine after visiting relatives in Jamaica.
Jaded
Tu m'étonnes, Jaded. Quite a task to imagine you with a heart but that was nearly helpful.
ReplyDelete"I notice the Graun describing her as 'popular' whatever could they be inferring?"
ReplyDeleteHeh!
"What is depressing is that I imagined it to be an Op Trident situation even before the names were announced."
Yup, ditto!