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Khayri McLean named as Huddersfield stabbing victim – The girlfriend of a 15-year-old boy murdered in broad daylight outside his school gates says her heart is shattered after he was targeted by a ‘balaclava-clad killer’.
Tragic Khayri McLean was killed as he tried to make his way home from North Huddersfield Trust School at 3pm yesterday.
Emergency services rushed to the area and the boy was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary, but he was sadly pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
The young victim’s mother Marcia had come to the spot this morning and had been ‘overcome with emotion’.
Khayri McLean named as Huddersfield stabbing victim
Khayri’s heartbroken girlfriend Shyana James, 16, said he had been on his way home to change clothes and then meet her when he was attacked.
She revealed that he rang her minutes before his death to say he was on his way to her and then sent a Snapchat message showing his location.
Shyana said: ‘He was the best person ever. He would drop anything for you and he’d do absolutely anything for anyone.
‘I spoke to him at 2.52pm yesterday and he was saying he’d had a good day and couldn’t wait to see me later.
‘He was going home to get changed then he was going to come to mine. He was the love of my life. We were talking about our future the other day. He was just the best person I knew.’
Shyana, who has set up a fundraising page to help Khayri’s family cover the cost of a funeral, was comforted by her mum, Sherrin, 33, as she visited the scene today wearing Khayri’s coat.
Sherrin said: ‘They were inseparable. He was always round mine and I’d drop him off at home after.
‘He was a good boy, really quiet. He’d do anything for anybody ever. We have no idea what’s provoked this, we’re at a loss to understand why it’s happened. We just do not know. There was quite a lot of kids that saw it.’
Ruben Duncan-Keane and Alfie Wilkinson, both 12, said they saw the shocking incident unfold as they left school.
Speaking with permission of their parents to reporters, they described how they saw a teacher attempt chest compressions in a desperate bid to save his young life after the stabbing.
Khayri McLean hugged by his mother in an older picture together sat at a table outside a cafe, believed to be in Huddersfield
Khayri McLean, 15, with girlfriend Shyana James, 16, in a social media picture provided by the James family to use
Tragic Khayri McLean was killed as he tried to make his way home from North Huddersfield Trust School at 3pm yesterday
Khayri smiles happily with his mother in a heartbreaking picture posted on social media before his dead on Wednesday
A police officer stands guards at the scene where a boy was stabbed yesterday in Fartown an area of Huddersfield, West Yorks
Alfie said his pals had seen ‘two guys in balaclavas’ hanging around before school closed.
He said: ‘They knew who they were going for and unfortunately they got him.’
Ruben, who Khayri had shown around the school when he first started, said: ‘I’m traumatised. I just saw him laid on the floor and saw a teacher trying to give him chest compressions.’
The boys had visited the scene to lay flowers in memory of the tragic teen with their mums.
Alfie added: ‘I didn’t get much sleep last night, I kept waking up. As soon as I heard the news that he’d died I burst into tears.
‘I didn’t even know him but I’m here laying flowers for him because nobody should lose their life like that.
‘He’d just started year 11 and was preparing for his GCSEs. It shouldn’t happen. The least we can do is come here and pay our respects.’
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said a boy, 16, had been detained, adding: ‘The youth was arrested at an address in Huddersfield shortly before 5am this morning in connection with the incident in Woodhouse Hill, Fartown, yesterday afternoon.
‘He remains in custody and enquiries are ongoing led by detectives from West Yorkshire Police Homicide and Major Enquiry Team.’
Khayri’s identity was confirmed by the West Yorkshire coroner.
West Yorkshire Police said they had arrested a 16-year-old boy this morning on suspicion of murder after the deadly attack
The scene in Fartown, a suburb of Huddersfield, West Yorks, was still cordoned today as the police continued to investigate
Police cordon and floral tributes near the scene in Woodhouse Hill, Huddersfield, where a 15-year-old boy was stabbed
A floral tribute near to the scene in Woodhouse Hill, Huddersfield, where a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death yesterday
The teenager was attacked in Woodhouse Hill at 3pm yesterday, and was a pupil at NHTS.
West Yorkshire Police has described the killing as an ‘absolutely senseless loss of a young life’ and has stepped up patrols in the area of tonight.
Headteacher Andrew Fell said in a statement: ‘It is with enormous sadness that I must tell you that following an incident on Woodhouse Hill Road yesterday one of our pupils has tragically lost their life.
‘The pupil was taken by ambulance to hospital after the incident but despite the most valiant of efforts, medical staff were unable to save their life.
‘This is truly shocking news for our pupils, your children and our staff. We will be providing specialist support for any among our community who feel they could benefit.’
The statement said the school will not open until 10.30am today and then only to students who need support.
Mr Fell said: ‘West Yorkshire Police have launched an urgent investigation, so it would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this time.
People grieve and lay flowers at the scene where a boy was stabbed yesterday, pictured in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
A sign is left where a boy was stabbed yesterday, pictured in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, reading ‘we breathe despair’
‘I would urge everyone not to engage in speculation about possible causes or perpetrators and allow the police to make their inquiries. A statement has been released.
‘Our deepest sympathies go out to the pupil’s family and friends who must feel, as we do, completely devastated. They have lost a loved one and we have lost a wonderful student from our school community.’
The force’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET) is investigating the incident and remains on the scene tonight as forensics and specialists conduct searches.
Police were called to the incident, which took place in the Fartown area of Huddersfield, at 2.54pm.
Afiya Mahmood, 39, who lives opposite the school, said: ‘I work from home and my husband messaged me to say someone had been stabbed outside the school. It must have been about half-an-hour after the incident had happened.
‘I hadn’t heard anything but I ran up to see what happened.
‘I could see the boy from the window, and the paramedics working on the child. There was blood but they’ve washed it away now.
‘There were a lot of paramedics, about 15 or 20, or that’s what it felt like anyway. Then they took him away.
‘It’s very overwhelming, distressing. It’s shocking, it’s just a young boy isn’t it.’
The unnamed teen was allegedly ‘pinned down’ in Woodhouse Hill, near the gates of North Huddersfield Trust School, at around 3pm yesterday. (Pictured: Huge police response near scene of incident)
A PCSO stands at the scene of the stabbing in Fartown, in Huddersfield, yesterday afternoon after the stabbing unfolded
Yorkshire Air Ambulance had blocked off the roads surrounding the incident (pictured), while parents say they are deeply concerned
Billy Shankland attended the scene with his son, a Year 7 pupil at the school, to lay flowers by the cordon.
He said: ‘It’s awful, I’ve got a child within the same age group, I can’t imagine what the family’s going through.
‘He didn’t know the boy, but he’s got friends who did. It’s a shock.
‘It is very (concerning) because we don’t know if it’s targeted or random – for us, anything could be happening. It’s scary.’
Lucy Smith, who lives near the school, attended the scene to leave a poem she had written on the railings outside.
She said: ‘I think we’re all in shock, I’ve got two teenagers roughly the same age and anyone with a family must be feeling shocked and saddened.
‘It was really important for me to come here, when things like this happen, to do something that can just help us feel better when we are all feeling completely powerless in the face of violence and thinking about a family that must be falling apart today.’
A father, aged 46, who has a son at the school told Yorkshire Live: ‘It was a scary moment when I heard there had been trouble and a teacher answered my 14-year-old son’s phone. I understand he may have witnessed some of what happened.
‘I was asked by staff to come and collect him. I’ve heard that it all came out of nowhere. This pupil was grabbed, pinned to the floor and stabbed repeatedly.’
Yorkshire Air Ambulance had blocked off the roads surrounding the incident, while parents said they were deeply concerned.
Another father, whose daughter is at the school, said something ‘needs to be done’ about the rise in crime in the area, adding: ‘My daughter just started there and was getting on bus home. Lad in black hat and snood jumped out on a pupil and stabbed him and ran off.
‘She saw the scuffle but didn’t see the knife or blood. The bus had just pulled up as it happened so blocked some of the incident – she seems OK but still processing it I think. It’s only her third week or so at this new school.’
He added that the area was starting to ‘feel like a crime drama.’
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: ‘At 2.54pm this afternoon police received a third-party report that a teenager had been seriously injured in an assault in Woodhouse Hill, Huddersfield.
Pictures taken earlier today showed at least half a dozen police cars responding to the incident.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Marc Bowes said: ‘Our investigation is still at a very early stage, and we will be carrying out extensive enquiries to establish the full circumstances surrounding this incident that has resulted in the absolutely senseless loss of a young life.
‘We recognise that an incident of this nature will cause understandable shock and concern in the community, and we are working closely alongside our colleagues at Kirklees District who are increasing their presence in the area to reassure people and keep them updated as our investigation progresses.
‘We have already identified a number of witnesses to the incident itself but would still like to hear from anyone who has any information that could assist the investigation.’
Anyone with information is asked to contact HMET detectives via 101 or online at https://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/101LiveChat quoting crime reference 13220521713.
