Victim of a knife attack said while bleeding: “I'm 15, don't let me die,” reports a witness

A schoolboy stabbed to death in southeast London said as he lay bleeding: “I'm 15, don't let me die,” a witness testified.

The 43-year-old woman told the PA news agency she tried to rescue the teenager as he lay injured on the street outside her flat.

Police were called to a disturbance on Eglinton Road in Woolwich at around 6.30pm on Sunday.

The boy was found at the crime scene with a stab wound and died a short time later.

The witness, who wishes to remain anonymous and has lived in the area for 14 years, said she was in her bedroom when a person across the street screamed, “Someone's been stabbed, someone's been stabbed.”

She said she grabbed a sheet and ran outside without shoes or socks, where she found the boy lying face down on the floor.

The boy had a laceration on his head and a “huge pool of blood” on his leg, the witness said.

She said she stopped the bleeding until paramedics arrived.

The witness continued: “I asked if I could go take a shower because I was covered in his blood and they said 'yes', so I went in and took a shower.

“I came back out and they (the police) called me over because I was the last one with him – he said to me: 'I'm 15, I'm 15, don't let me die' and I said to him: 'You're not going to die, mate'.”

She said the victim was “the most polite boy” when she met him in her neighborhood.

When asked if she knew the victim well, she replied: “No, I didn't, but I always said hello and stuff, and he was always polite or avoided you when you left.”

A spokesman for Sadiq Khan said: “The Mayor’s thoughts are with the family and friends of the teenager killed in Woolwich, and the wider community.

“There is no place for this heartbreaking violence on our streets.

“The mayor is in close contact with police leadership and there will be increased patrols in the area.”

The boy’s next of kin have been informed.

No arrests have been made and a crime scene exists.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 and quote reference CAD 5989/22Sep.