Youth Shot At London Rink

[Ice Dancer]

Have just heard this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6329569.stm


Very shocking. I hope everyone from here who skates there is safe. I feel all cold and funny after reading it. I wasn't sure whether to post it or not, but felt the majority on here would want to be made aware.

[BatikatII]

What awful news. How sad for that poor kid and his family. I know the late night sessions at our rink can get pretty rough but thankfully it's not come to that sort of violence. That's really shocking.

[Clare]

It really is quite awful :(. We don't know yet when the rink will re-open either, still cordoned off by the police today.

Clare

[Mrs Redboots]

But according to the latest update (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6329569.stm) on the BBC site, he wasn't actually a skater but was shot just outside the rink, and ran in to get help.

Phew!

That makes all the difference.

We are very much hoping the rink will be open again on Tuesday, as both clare and I have lessons scheduled (albeit with different coaches and at different times!); and I'm sure the hockey people hope it's open tomorrow - it's closed to figure skaters and dancers on a Monday, as that's hockey day.

[Ice Dancer]

That's the same link as before ;)

[Clare]

But according to the latest update (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6329569.stm) on the BBC site, he wasn't actually a skater but was shot just outside the rink, and ran in to get help.

Phew!

That makes all the difference.

We are very much hoping the rink will be open again on Tuesday, as both clare and I have lessons scheduled (albeit with different coaches and at different times!); and I'm sure the hockey people hope it's open tomorrow - it's closed to figure skaters and dancers on a Monday, as that's hockey day.

On the ITV news, they said he was shot at the bottom of the stairs and ran onto the ice to escape. The thought of that horrifies me way too much, so I'm going with the BBC's version.

I'm sure the hockey guys are hoping for tomorrow, especially as there should have been a home game tonight.

Clare

[e-skater]

Have just heard this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6329569.stm


Very shocking. I hope everyone from here who skates there is safe. I feel all cold and funny after reading it. I wasn't sure whether to post it or not, but felt the majority on here would want to be made aware.

That is scary. Hopefully this was a one-time incident, and all of you will be safe.

[NickiT]

That's awful. My husband spent four years helping out on security at our rink on a Friday night because he has good judo skills that came in very handy at times. He did come across youths carrying knives, and spent many a session splitting up fights but thankfully no guns were brought in.

[blisspix]

It is unfortunate that due to high land prices, skating rinks are not always in the best parts of town, and at night can get quite dangerous. An elderly lady was killed in the laneway next to my old rink.

Terrible to hear about this incident in London - hope the rink reopens soon.

[TashaKat]

That's awful :(

The latest news is that 7 youths including an 18 year old 'man' are being held over the shooting.

What a waste of a life :(

[Casey]

At my former regular rink, there is an upstairs floor that they rented out to a dance club. This apparently attracted a seedier sort of crowd, and after a few months, somebody ended up getting shot in the rink parking lot. They stopped letting him do the dance club stuff after that.

[Mrs Redboots]

This is the second major shooting incident in the past few months in this area. Just a few miles up the main road, a lad was shot in the McDonald's at the end of our street back in October. Husband was very late home from dance club that night, as of course all the roads were closed!

Sadly, many of the local young appear to think that carrying a gun (which is totally illegal here) is the cool thing to do. And there may or may not be gang involvement - we used to get gang shootings at a pub across the road from us until the police got fed up and its licence was withdrawn a few years ago.

I hope the police can allow the rink to open again today - I feel so sorry for the coaches who have already lost one day's lesson fees. And we will still have to pay for ice time, even if there is none!

[NickiT]

I hope the police can allow the rink to open again today - I feel so sorry for the coaches who have already lost one day's lesson fees. And we will still have to pay for ice time, even if there is none!

Yes I hope all is back to normal very soon for all of you at Streatham.

Nicki

[NickiT]

I hope the police can allow the rink to open again today - I feel so sorry for the coaches who have already lost one day's lesson fees. And we will still have to pay for ice time, even if there is none!

Yes, I hope all is back to normal for you all at Streatham very soon.

Nicki

[Helen88]

I also read that Dancing on Ice were going to stop using Streatham, and as Neil Fox (and Pam :cry:) and Phil Gayle have gone, they didn't really need it. I've never risked the Ally Pally Friday disco session - the thought of it scares me to be honest, but that's put me off them for life. Poor guy...

[Clare]

I hope the police can allow the rink to open again today - I feel so sorry for the coaches who have already lost one day's lesson fees. And we will still have to pay for ice time, even if there is none!

Alas not- my coach let me know a little while ago that the rink will be closed again tomorrow and that he'll let me know as soon as he finds out whether we're back in business or not on Wednesday.

Clare

[Team Arthritis]

so sad. Too many guns. http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/traurig/a050.gif

I guess I'll thank our rink manager for hiring off duty police officers to work security every Fri and Sat night along with any tournament or holiday. They park their cruisers right out front and won't let groups just hang around outside. They also swing by during the day on duty too. Another security move that has helped is to charge an admission fee to even enter the building during those times. Only thing I don't like is that they took out the benches so kids must stand while waiting for their folks to pick them up.
Lyle