A 16-year-old boy was shot and fatally wounded during a Saturday night disco at a crowded ice rink.

James Smarrt-Ford was standing in a crowd of people yards from the rink edge at the packed disco in Streatham, South London, when a gunman opened fire, hitting him twice.

In the panic that ensued, hundreds of young people stampeded towards the front door. James stumbled a few steps away from his attacker before collapsing on the ice.

Last night the grubby 1930s building was behind a police cordon. Lights remained on, but inside the building was deserted apart from the occasional police officer.

A notice on the door stated: “CCTV recording for your safety and security. SORRY, no hoodies or baseball caps.”

The shots were fired at about 11pm as hundreds of people were enjoying the weekly ice disco. Within seconds the rink began to empty as children, teenagers and adults poured through the main exit.

The victim, thought to have left school recently, was given first aid before being taken to St George’s Hospital, Tooting, where he was pronounced dead at midnight. Yesterday his family, from southwest London, were said to be struggling to understand what had happened, and why.

Detective Superintendent Gary Richardson, leading the murder hunt, said: “This was just a 16-year-old boy who went to the skating rink on a Saturday night.” He said that police were trying to find out whether the dead boy had been with friends and what he had been doing during the evening. “We don’t know who he came here with or how long he had been here.”

They were not sure whether he was the only target, or even the intended target.

Mr Richardson said that the shots were fired into a crowd and that there may have been a third shot that did not hit the victim. “The crucial thing at the moment is that everybody who was there, even if they think they saw nothing, comes forward so that we can identify all the people who were there.”

He appealed in particular for anyone who may have seen the gunman running down Streatham High Road at 11pm to come forward. Six youths and an 18-year-old man have been arrested, but Mr Richardson believed that the gunman had escaped.

Yesterday detectives from Operation Trident, which covers black-on-black gun crime, were studying CCTV footage.

Residents said that gangs of youths would descend on the arena on Friday and Saturday nights. “Every now and again there would be a crew or a gang who would come down,” Sam Kinsey, 20, said. He added: “A knife attack wouldn’t have surprised me, but it’s not good to think of guns in Streatham.”

Many in Streatham regarded the Saturday disco as a safe place for their children to socialise. “My little cousin was in there last night,” one man said. “She’s quite shaken up.”

The shooting comes as senior officers grow increasingly concerned that gun crime is reaching younger children. Last year they began a campaign focused on those aged 11 to 16. Until April 2005 Operation Trident officers had not charged a single suspect under 20 with murder. By last autumn 16 teenagers had been charged. A 25-year-woman was seriously ill in hospital last night after being knocked off her bicycle and robbed in Padding-ton Green, West London.

Officers said that the unnamed victim was a student from northwest London. Two moped riders stole her bag after ambushing her.

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