The massacre took place on Thursday night at O2 Academy Brixton, also known as Brixton Academy, a popular London concert hall where Nigerian Afrobeats singer Asake was performing. The police report that “a large number of people tried to forcefully enter” the venue. Videos showed the crowd spilling into the narrow entrance as people shouted and bystanders recorded the scene.
First responders performed CPR and first aid. Police said they responded to reports of a break-in shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday. The police said that eight people were hospitalized with obvious injuries as a result of the incident.
Police said an autopsy will be conducted in Ikumelo on Sunday. Chief Inspector Colin Wingrove said in a statement that an “urgent investigation” was underway into the episode, adding that “this is still a fast-moving and developing picture and we are working to establish the events that led up to the incident”.
Police appealed to the 4,000 people who attended the event to submit photos and videos that could help piece together the circumstances that led to the massacre. The sold-out venue can hold a maximum of about 5,000 people.
In a statement released by the Metropolitan Police, Ikumelo’s family said the 33-year-old was a nursing graduate and “an adorable mother of two who loved working with children. He had great respect in his family for his care, kindness and love.”
Asake is the singer statement he posted on social media that he had spoken to Ikumelo’s family and was “devastated by the news of his death”.
“I’m overwhelmed with grief and I could never have imagined that something like this would happen,” he said, adding that he and his team were “waiting for full information” from the venue and the police to “determine what exactly caused all the disruption.” “.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was “heartbroken that this could happen to Londoners in our city” and urged anyone with information about the situation to contact the police. “I will not rest until we have the answers their loved ones need and deserve,” he tweeted.
The fatal incident in London follows the death of 11 people in a stampede at a concert in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, in October, the same night a mob massacre in Seoul left 158 dead. At least 130 people were killed in a massacre at an Indonesian soccer stadium earlier that month.
A Washington Post investigation into the brawls in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood and Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, Indonesia, found serious missteps by officials in each tragedy: slow police response and lack of crowd control in Seoul, tear gas and blocked exits. in Malang, which contributed to the high death toll.
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