The machete murder of schoolboy Kelyan Bokassa on the number 472 bus in broad daylight in front of horrified passengers is the latest in a bloody gang turf war that has torn apart the Woolwich community.
Kelyan, 14, described by his mother as a polite boy who was trained from a young age by a drug gang, was stabbed 12 times on the double-decker bus Tuesday afternoon.
Terrified witnesses said they saw two young men with baby faces running away from the atrocity, one of them armed with a machete “as long as your forearm.”
Just 24 hours earlier, an 18-year-old college student was forced to fight for his life after being stabbed less than a mile away.
And MailOnline can reveal Kelyan’s senseless murder came while he was still mourning the death of his close friend DaeJaun Campbell, 15, who was stabbed to death by a knife-wielding zombie killer.
Kelyan’s murder has shed light on the turf war that has turned this area of south-east London into a battlefield.
On the famous Barnfield estate, where Keylan lived with his mother, the Wildbatch gang operates. An area to the south, near Woolwich Dockyard, is controlled by their bitter rivals, the WoolyO gang.
Both gangs are said to compete for control of the local drug trade (particularly crack cocaine and cannabis) and both have formed alliances with gangsters from nearby areas.
Kelyan Bokassa (pictured) was stabbed in front of horrified passengers on a route 472 bus in Woolwich at around 2.30pm on Tuesday.
Kelyan’s death comes less than four months after the murder of another teenager, Daejaun Campbell, 15 (pictured), who was also fatally stabbed in Woolwich in September last year.
The Woolwich Boys were a huge gang said to have more than 300 members, mainly of Somali origin, that formed in the late 1990s.
Woolwich Boys gangsters are said to have terrorized, robbed and even killed drug rivals with butcher knives and AK-47s.
According to mafia folklore, the gang was further decimated when 20 of its members died fighting for ISIS in Syria, including Abdullah Hassan, who was filmed boasting about wanting to kill British and Western soldiers.
Keylan, an aspiring rapper who performed under the pseudonym ‘Grippa’, had links to Wildbatch.
He had just released a song, called Bangers & Mash, on Christmas Day.
In the music video, he pretended to wave a knife in the air while rapping about “pigs” (police slang), gangs, guns, “swords” and “getting blown up.”
About an hour before he was murdered, the schoolboy posted a disturbing message on Instagram asking any of his followers if they had a ‘mindi’, the Somali word for knife.
We can now reveal that he was due to appear before magistrates on Friday accused of carrying a machete to Ravensbourne College. In his latest brush with the law, he was charged with possession of a weapon in a public place.
An image of the scene after Kelyan was stabbed to death on a bus in Woolwich.
Kelyan’s heartbroken mother, Mary Bokassa, is pictured holding a photo of her son.
Kelyan previously shared a photo of Daejaun on Instagram with the tribute: “#Longliveboogz I still can’t believe it’s you man rest in peace.”
Keylan’s devastated mother Mary Bokassa cried on Wednesday as she blamed gangs for caring for her “kind and loving” son during a period when he lived on the streets after fleeing a care home in Kent.
Keylan’s friend DaeJaun died a mile away just over three months ago. As his life faded away, he screamed, “I’m 15 years old, don’t let me die.”
Three teenagers, Jacob Losiewicz, 18, Marko Balaz, also 18, and a 17-year-old boy have been charged with Daejaun’s murder.
Moved by his friend’s death, Kelyan posted a photograph on his Instagram account of a candle-lit, flower-filled shrine that had been set up near where Daejuan was stabbed with a zombie knife in Eglinton Road, Woolwich, on 22 September.
The site is close to the famous Barnfield estate, near Woolwich Common, where Wildbatch is based. Its rivals, WoolyO, are based near Woolwich Docks.
According to sources familiar with street gang culture in south-east London, Wildbatch is linked to Peckham’s Zone 2 gang, as well as TG, who are based on Plumstead Common. Meanwhile, WoolyO has formed connections with GS28, who are based in neighboring Thamesmead, and Parkside, who are based in Belvedere.
Despite millions of pounds having been invested in regeneration in Woolwich over the last decade, the area has failed to rid itself of its criminal underbelly and stabbings have become commonplace.
On Monday afternoon, just 24 hours before Kelyan’s horrific murder, an 18-year-old was rushed to hospital after being stabbed at Shooter’s Hill Sixth Form College in Woolwich.
Kelyan was an aspiring musician who filmed videos under the street name ‘Grippa’.
In July 2021, 15-year-old Tamim Ian Habimana (pictured) was murdered outside Woolwich Arsenal station by a gang who had traveled to the area by train.
A forensic officer is seen holding a gun tube used to collect evidence while on board the bus – January 7, 2025.
Before Kelyan was stabbed to death, he posted on Instagram asking if any of his followers had a “mindy.” This is believed to be in reference to the word “mindi”, which in Somali means “knife”.
Kelyan is pictured with his mother, Mary, during a trip to the beach as a child.
Tributes have poured in for the young musician called ‘Grippa’ and devastated friends on social media said he was ‘taken too soon’.
He remains in critical condition following the attack, which police do not link to Kelyan’s death.
Last May, mobile phone footage emerged of a man being stabbed with a huge machete outside the Pure Gym in Woolwich.
The disturbing clip showed two men dressed in black trying to steal a bag from a man in a white T-shirt and one of the men pulling out the knife and slashing the leg of the victim, who was then stomped on by a second attacker as he lay in position. fetal on the floor.
A man in his 20s was taken to hospital with a non-life-threatening stab wound.
A few weeks after that incident, a fierce knife fight was caught on camera outside a Footlocker store on Woolwich High Street. Onlookers blamed local gangs for the massacre.
In July 2021, 15-year-old Tamim Ian Habimana was murdered outside Woolwich Arsenal station by a gang who had traveled to the area by train.
He was stabbed in the heart by youths who had come from Dartford in Kent seeking revenge for a friend of theirs who had been stabbed and injured nine days earlier.
Tamim had not been the attacker, but a 16-year-old boy approached him and pulled out a zombie knife and stabbed him. The teenager was found guilty of wounding, possession of an offensive weapon and conspiracy to commit violent disorder.
Two police officers stand outside a police cordon on Woolwich Church Road, where the teenager was stabbed to death on Tuesday.
Police protect a cordon after a teenager was fatally stabbed on a London bus on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.
A police officer walks past a bus stop on Woolwich Church Road in Woolwich after a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death on a bus.
An air ambulance arrived at the scene but sadly the child was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.
A 17-year-old boy was convicted of possession of an offensive weapon and conspiracy to commit violent disorder.
Much of the Woolwich gang war has its roots in one of London’s most notorious criminal networks that was established in the area.
They went from a low-level criminal street gang to a well-structured criminal organization involved in drug trafficking and contract killing.
However, due to increased policing, the gang began to concentrate their efforts on running County Lines’ drug operations out of London. Several gang members were arrested at dawn in Gillingam, Kent, in 2013.