First Anniversary of Alexander Kareem's Murder
Alexander Kareem with his mother
It is a year to the day this Tuesday 8 June since Alexander Kareem was gunned down in Shepherd’s Bush.
The anniversary is being marked with a renewed appeal to the public for information that will help bring his killers to justice.
Patrols have been undertaken in the Askew Road area on Monday and Tuesday with police officers asking members of the public for assistance in the investigation.
Alexander was shot in the early hours of Monday 8 June 2020 on his way from a convenience store in Askew Road.
He was riding his e-scooter to a friend’s house at 12.40am when a white Range Rover drove past and shot him in a case of mistaken identity.
Various leads have been exhaustively followed by the police including a massive analysis of the CCTV footage of the movements of the car, which was found burned out 25 minutes after the shooting just over three miles away in Ascott Avenue in Ealing.
Alexander’s family have released the following statement, “It has now been a full year since we got the phone call that changed our lives forever.
“This year was going to be his ‘his year’, a whole year of milestones he was so excited about. He would be finishing his first year of University, studying his passion of computer science. Like many others over the last year we would have been spending time as a family, bonding over the small things that lockdown brought. Lockdown for our family would have been full of laughter, shared memories and sitting on the sofa watching our favourite TV shows. Instead, we have spent most of it in complete shock and sadness.
“March saw us celebrate his 21st birthday without him. What should have been balloons and birthday cake was spent taking flowers to his graveside.
“Alexander was a sweet, intelligent and quiet boy who never did anything wrong. His kindness shone from him, it is unbearable that anyone could hurt him and, knowing they had targeted the wrong person, left him on his own.
“We would do anything to have our Alexander back, and so would the community that he was such a big part of. In what has been an unbelievably challenging year for us as a family, the hardest part of all is that this story has not ended. We continue to urge anyone who knows what happened that night to call the police, or call Crimestoppers completely anonymously. We believe that someone within this community knows what has happened, please help us.
“Nothing will fix our broken hearts but ensuring the individual or individuals who did this are behind bars and knowing no one else will have to go through what we have at the hands of these people, will enable us to stop searching. We want to start to look forward to a life in which we hope to live by Alexander’s example of leading with kindness.”
Three months ago the occasion of what would have been his 21st birthday saw his family issue another for members of the community to come forward..
Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley, who leads the investigation, said, “As we reach the one year anniversary, my heart goes out to Alexander’s family who have endured an entire year of not knowing what has happened to their son or who is responsible.
“Patrols are taking place in the area today, please do speak with officers if you have any concerns or have information you wish to share. There will be no stone unturned on this case. We may be a year on but that does not mean we slow down, if anything it spurs us on further to find those responsible.
“I signed up to be a murder detective to get justice for victims like Alexander and his devastated family, I will not tire until we do.
“If anyone reading this is holding on to information, let it go, call us or Crimestoppers. We will protect you and you may be the piece of this puzzle we are missing. Do it for Alexander and his family.”
A £10,000 reward remains in place for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Alexander's murder.
If you are unsure or do not want to speak to police officers, you can call Crimestoppers, which is completely anonymous.
Anyone with information is urged to call police on 101 quoting the reference CAD 224/08JUN.
Information can also be provided, anonymously, by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity. They cannot trace your name or IP address and information is provided to them in full confidence.
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June 12, 2021