Gang of double murderers given life sentences for machete attack at music video shoot
Leonardo Reid, 15, and Klevi Shekaj, 23, were killed in Archway in June 2023
Last updated 26th Sep 2025
"Smirking" killers who ran amok at a music video shoot, fatally stabbing two young people and severely injuring a third, have been handed two life sentences.
Leonardo Reid, 15, and Klevi Shekaj, 23, were killed and 28-year-old Abdullah Abdullahi was badly hurt when a group of men armed with large machetes ambushed the event in Archway, north London, on the night of June 29 2023.
Lorik Lupqi, 22, and Jason Furtado, 28, had planned the attack and enlisted Abel Chunda, 29; Xavier Poponne, 22; and Eden Clark, 31, to help carry it out.
On Friday, they were handed two life sentences for the murders and 25 years in jail for attempted murder, having been found guilty after a long-running Old Bailey trial.
Archway attackers
Judge Anjua Dhir KC told Lupqi he would spend at least 39 years in prison for the "planned, brutal, murderous group attack".
Furtado and Poponne received minimum terms of 37 years and Chunda and and Clark were given minimum terms of 38 years.
Lupqi was the instigator of the violence, and had lashed out in the dock and was verbally abusive towards Judge Dhir.
Judge Dhir told the defendants: "With the exception of Xavier Poponne, your behaviour during this trial has been appalling with constant outbursts in court, fights in the dock, disruptive behaviour in the cells in this building and difficult behaviour coming to and leaving this court."
She said Lupqi had been "by far the worst", adding they had shown "a complete lack of respect for the court process and the families of your victims".
"However, I am sentencing you for offences and not for your conduct in court," the judge said.
All but Poponne had previous convictions for a combined total of 201 offences, including for drugs and possession of weapons. Chunda alone had convictions of 97 offences.
Victim impact statements from the family of the victims
Earlier, the murder victims' mothers had criticised the defendants for their lack of remorse, "smirking" during their trial and treating it like a "game".
Leonardo's mother, Valentina Locci, said: "My past, present and future has been crushed and taken, not only from me but my family, his siblings and all of our loved ones and friends, and for what?
"An adrenaline rush, an ego boost, a full sense of worth, a selfish gratification with no rewards, at cost to others. What I lost, what we have lost, cannot be found nor replaced."
Mr Shekaj's mother, Valbona Shekaj, said in her statement: "Instead of showing remorse or asking for forgiveness, they smirked at us from the defendant's box.
"They played with our pain, and treated this entire trial as a game, as if the life they took and the devastation they caused meant nothing."
The trial had heard how the violence erupted after a large group had gathered on the Elthorne Estate to record a music video for an artist called Tight Road Baby.
Lupqi had heard that members of a rival gang might be there and called on the attack with Furtado who enlisted Chunda, Clark and Poponne.
Furtado and Lupqi were wearing electronic tags at the time of the attack.
Lupqi, from Archway, cut off his tag and fled to Kosovo, but was extradited back to the UK.
On Friday, Poponne was handed additional concurrent sentences for dealing in class A drugs and carrying knives which he admitted.