Family of man shot dead in Shepherd's Bush appealing for more information to find his killer

One year on from the murder of Alexander Kareem, his family continue to appeal for information

The family of Alexander Kareem, who was fatally shot in Askew Road, Shepherd’s Bush on Monday, 8 June 2020 have today marked the anniversary of his death with a fresh appeal for information.

At 00:40hrs Alexander had been riding an e-scooter along Askew Road from an off-license to a friend’s house. It is believed a white Range Rover drove past and shot him in a case of mistaken identity. The white Range Rover was found burned out just 25 minutes later on Ascott Avenue. The investigation has seen more than 20 officers involved and hours of CCTV poured over.

Officers are still keen to hear from anyone with information or who may have been in the area at the time. Anniversary patrols by officers took place yesterday and will take place throughout June 8 too.

Alexander’s family have released the following statement, to mark the one year anniversary:

“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.”

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.”

Any witnesses or those with information, video or images that could assist police are asked to call 101 ref CAD 224/08Jun.