14 year-old Nyasha lives in Hackney and was recently affected by the death of local teenager Etem Celebi. So how does Nyasha feel about the shooting of someone she went to school with?
Despite recent events Nyasha still feels safe in her area; "but it's obviously not safe for other people because, like, he wasn't really supposed to die. But I personally feel safe because I'm a girl." Nyasha says Etam wasn't involved in gangs; and doesn't believe he was targeted by his killers. "Before you'd hear about boys being in a gang and getting shot. But now you hear about anybody being shot, it doesn't really matter". We understand this sentiment as we ourselves could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be that "anybody" who gets hurt.
According to Nyasha, Etem's death had a major effect on her local community. "The other day they had his memorial service and over 1000 people were there. Even though all the different gangs came, nobody came to fight." We think this shows a great respect for Etem and this is the way forward if young people are to put down their weapons.
Research carried out by the Times newspaper has shown that you can buy a regular shotgun from £50 – £200. When we put this to Nyasha she highlighted how affordable firearms can be for some young people; "if you can get a shotgun for £50 you can get that instead of a pair of trainers!"
Nyasha thinks it is unfair how gun crime is often seen as a problem amongst young black people "because the way the media are portraying young black people, some black people are going out and thinking well the media is saying were doing that so we might as well do it".
These cycles need to be broken so more young people can feel safe. As Nyasha points out "whoever's not involved in gangs at the moment needs to stay uninvolved or it's never gonna stop". As a final message for her peers, Nyasha said "put yourself in that position, whoever you gonna go and stab, imagine them stabbing you."
About this article
This article is part of a series about gun crime in London. It was produced by Andrew Dixon, 13, Ghizlan Akerbousse, 15, Jordan Daley, 13, Jamie Craig, 13 and Zainab Asad, 14. It was published on the BBC London website.
