The 15-year-old girl who was fatally stabbed in the neck with a foot-long knife on her way to school in suburban London was identified as student Elianne Andam as it was revealed the teen died protecting a friend from a lovelorn ex-boyfriend.
The suspect, identified only as a 17-year-old boy who was known to the victim, allegedly tried to give his former girlfriend, Andam’s friend, a bouquet of flowers on a No. 60 double-decker bus in Croydon Wednesday morning.
As Andam, her friend, and the ex-boyfriend stepped off the bus at Wellesley Road around 8:30 a.m. local time, Andam was said to have stepped in between her friend and the boy to diffuse the situation.
That is when the enraged ex allegedly pulled out a black, thin knife and plunged its long blade into Andam’s neck.
“The blood was coming like water,” security guard Victor Asare, who witnessed the savage attack from a bus, told Sky News.
A bus driver and bystanders frantically tried to help the 15-year-old before paramedics arrived and took over the life-saving measures. But despite all their efforts, she died 40 minutes later.
Two of Andam’s friends had to be forcibly held back from going past the police barrier, with one of them quoted as screaming: “Is my friend dead? She is my best friend.”
Neighbor Rochelle Beaumont, 30, said she was walking with her son when she came across the horrifying scene and saw Andam’s body being placed on a stretcher.
“My friend was with her trying to help and said she just didn’t stand a chance,” Beaumont told The Independent. “Her toes weren’t moving, she was unresponsive.”
The knife-wielding teen fled the scene but was apprehended nearby a little over an hour later. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that he was being held for questioning and that they were not looking for any additional suspects.
The slain girl’s family released a statement through a spokesperson Thursday, saying that Andam was a student at Old Palace of John Whitgift School — a prestigious $23,600-a-year private girls’ school — and “dreamed of being a lawyer.”
“Our hearts are broken by the senseless death of our daughter,” the parents said in the statement. “Elianne was the light of our lives. She was bright and funny, with many friends who all adored her.”
The girl’s parents went on to say that their daughter was only 15 and had her whole life ahead of her with big dreams for the future.
“All those dreams have now been shattered. Our lives have fallen apart, along with that of our wider family,” they added.
Andam was of Nigerian descent and from a devout Christian family. Her mother is a National Health Service nurse and her father is a social worker and author.
Elianne’s aunt, Marian, described the crushing effect her niece’s violent death has had on her mom.
“This is a tragedy. It hasn’t sunk in yet for my sister,” she told reporters.
Marian described the 15-year-old as a “lovely girl” who loved gymnastics and doing her hair.
“We can’t comprehend the heartbreak of the last 24 hours,” she added. “She went to school and didn’t come home.”
Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain called the incident “every parent’s worst nightmare” — and said that officers and emergency service technicians who responded to the scene yesterday were “devastated” by Andam’s death.
Visibly shaken first responders and cops were seen Thursday laying flowers in the girl’s honor at the scene in Croydon, followed by a moment of silence during which some of them were wiping their eyes.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that he was “absolutely heartbroken” by the death — and vowed to “end the scourge of knife crime in our city.”
Andam’s school expressed its shock at the “senseless and tragic death of our much-loved and valued friend and pupil.”