Shot youth a convicted drug dealer

12 April 2012

The teenager fatally shot in the head over the weekend was a convicted drug dealer, it has emerged.

Sharmaarke Hassan, from Camden, north London, is believed to have been a member of a gang known as The Money Squad (TMS).

The 17-year-old was found guilty of possessing cannabis and offering to supply the drug at Thames Youth Court last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. He was given a one-year community punishment order and ordered to do 40 hours of community service.

The local authorities tried to ban alleged gang members from Camden at an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (Asbo) hearing a fortnight ago.

Orders were sought forbidding them from meeting more than five named individuals, but according to the Camden New Journal newspaper, a district judge refused interim orders on all but three.

Highbury Corner Magistrates Court confirmed Hassan was among those named on the Asbo application.

According to local reports, Hassan was shot as he sat with a group of youths on a bench in Gilbey's Yard, overlooking The Regent's Canal, on Saturday night.

He died in hospital, becoming the 15th teenager to meet a violent end in the capital this year. A post mortem gave the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head.

Local residents said the bench was a hang-out for drug dealers from nearby Camden High Street and King's Cross.

One man, who did not wish to be named, said: "I heard a couple of bangs around half ten on Saturday night. I thought it was just kids with fireworks, so I didn't think anything of it, then next thing there were police everywhere. I've lived here since the estate was built. It used to be a nice estate but now the crime is getting much worse."

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