The police in London are investigating the death of a 40-year-old Nigerian football coach after he was stabbed to death on a busy London street.
Michael Olatunde Fadayomi, popularly known simply as Tunde, was stabbed after a fight that broke out on the top floor of a busy bus in North West London on Thursday.
Witnesses said Fadayomi’s teenage son, who was said to be heading to football training, had some problems with someone on the bus and Fadayomi’s intervention escalated the confrontation and spilled out onto the pavement.
The son, whose name had not been ascertained, was said to have desperately tried to intervene as his father was repeatedly stabbed before an ambulance arrived.
Emergency services rushed to the scene shortly after 5pm, but despite the best efforts of paramedics, including a junior doctor who stepped in to help, Fadayomi died.
Police have since arrested a 42-year-old man on suspicion of murder.
Those who knew Fadayomi hailed him as a ‘pillar of the community’ who was ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’.
His neighbor named Vancessa said: “I’m still in shock. A bad word never would come out of his mouth
“He was always with that little boy – his son – since he was born.
“He died saving his kid. He’s a football coach. He was a pillar of the community. It really breaks my heart.”
A witness who tried to comfort Fadayomi’s son after the incident and preferred to be anonymous was quoted as saying: “I was coming from across the road. I saw him on the floor in a pile of blood.
“It is the first time I have seen something like that.
“They were trying to save him. There were four or five people trying to save him.”
The witness continued: “It is sad, really sad. I saw him and he said ‘he was my dad’ and I gave him a hug. It was horrible.
“He was on his scooter. He was just running around; he just didn’t know what to do.
“I asked him and he said it was his dad.”
London newspaper, The Sun, quoted a dental nurse, Tracey Dolling, 43, who rushed across the road to help the victim, as saying: “It’s very, very sad, awful, absolutely devastating
“The boy had some problems on the bus with someone. He called his dad, his dad came down and that’s what happened. Murdered.”
Video footage of the incident – shared widely on social media and seen by My London, shows an argument break out between two men on the top floor of the bus before it spilled out onto the street.
Police are calling on people not to share the footage.
Detectives from Specialist Crime are leading the investigation, led by DCI Claire Hine.