4 men charged with murder of 17-year-old boy outside Tottenham music studio

Four men have been found guilty of murder after a 17-year-old boy was fatally shot in the head with a ball bearing and then stabbed with a machete as he lay defenseless on the ground outside a music studio. Tyler McDermott was killed in Tottenham, north London, last April 13.

Tyrese Barnett, 20, Leo Reid, 20, Rhys Antwi, 20, and Kalam Bagge, 19, were convicted by a jury after more than 70 hours of deliberation at an Old Bailey trial. Barnett was also found guilty of attempted murder.

Alfred Coker, 21, and Damaris McBeth, 20, were charged with murder but acquitted by a jury on Wednesday.

Prosecutor John Price KC told the trial that “tension and hostility” had developed between two groups of youths who were all present in the music studio that morning in April.

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Tyler and his friends were in one group, while Barnett, Reid and the others were in the other, jurors were told.

The events were caught on CCTV footage, Mr Price said: “The man who shot Tyler McDermott in the head is Tyrese Barnett. The man who hit him in the lower body with the machete after he fell to the ground is Leo Reid.

“They showed that they both intended and wanted Tyler McDermott to die.”

Price said Reid attacked the victim as she lay “beaten and defenseless on the ground.”

Despite the best efforts of paramedics, Tyler died at the hospital the next day.

The two attackers were identified by police and found two days later sitting together at Heathrow Airport with one-way tickets to Jamaica, the court heard.

CCTV footage showed the gun being fired twice, with the second shot being fired at Tyler’s girlfriend, Kamali Lindo, the prosecutor said.

The prosecution did not allege Reid caused Tyler’s death with the machete, but it helped prove he shared culpability in the murder, the court heard.

Barnett, of no fixed address, Reid, of Tulse Hill, Lambeth, Antwi, of Prentis Road, Streatham, and Bagge, of Nimrod Road, Streatham, will be sentenced on September 20.

Reid and Antwi pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon before trial.

Coker, of Bowen Drive, Dulwich, and McBeth, of The Glade, Croydon, were released.