Residents on an otherwise peaceful estate in Wandsworth, plagued with violence and antisocial behaviour this summer, have called on the authorities to act before someone is killed.
According to a source on the Wendlesworth estate, the trouble started earlier this summer when groups of youths started hanging outside a block called Totland House.
This antisocial behaviour culminated in two serious incidents, one where a youth was stabbed in August and another when a 16-year-old boy was shot on September 24.
The resident, who did not want to be named, said: “The council told me that I should call the emergency line if the kids were ever doing anything – even as minor as spitting – so that it could be recorded.
“But when I spoke to one of the council’s emergency team, he told me his manager had said his team should not answer calls to our block at night unless they were in pairs.
“In most cases, there isn’t enough of them to answer calls in pairs.”
However, the council strenuously denied its emergency teams had received such instructions.
A spokesman said: “The Wendlesworth is a generally very quiet and peaceful estate that does not normally suffer from antisocial behaviour.
“We have recently received some complaints about youths congregating in communal areas and we are investigating these complaints.
“If we obtain evidence that any tenants are causing disturbances or antisocial behaviour then we would take that very seriously.”
Staff at the Old Sergeant pub in Garratt Lane confirmed that a boy ran into the premises on the evening of September 24 with a bullet wound to his upper body.
Police were then called to Vermont Road where they found the injured teenager, who was in a serious but stable condition, however, no arrests have been made.
A police spokesman also confirmed that a youth was stabbed on the estate on August 13.
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