A man shot dead outside a London nightclub became the 90th murder victim in the capital this year, Scotland Yard detectives said last night.

The victim, who is said to have been in his 20s, was shot up to six times as he stood talking to his friends in the early hours of yesterday.

Armed police and the London Ambulance Service responded at 3.45am to reports of gunshots outside the Red nightclub, near Limehouse station, East London.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said that the shooting would be investigated by officers from Operation Trident, which was set up to tackle gun crime among young black people.

No arrests have been made and officers are trying to establish why the man was shot. They hope to interview witnesses to find out whether there had been any trouble inside the club, which is advertised on posters all over East London.

Forensic science officers in blue boiler suits were working under a white tent erected outside the nightclub yesterday. A police cordon was in place in surrounding streets.

Residents said they were woken by police sirens. Gloria Antin, 45, a shop worker, said: “There was a helicopter and people shouting and screaming at about 4 o’clock. There were huge crowds of people here outside the nightclub. It’s pretty terrifying, but I’m not surprised. Every weekend we get trouble with people drinking outside the club.”

Scotland Yard has appealed for clubbers who saw what happened to come forward.

About the same time as the shooting, police and paramedics were called to attend to a 44-year-old man who had been stabbed in a flat in a usually quiet residential road in Streatham, South London. Neighbours said that they heard shouting and a woman screaming before the emergency services were called. The victim, who has not been named, was pronounced dead at the scene.

One neighbour said: “I was asleep when I was woken up by someone shouting and screaming in the street. At first I couldn’t understand them. I thought it was people having a fight after a late-night drinking session. I heard a woman shouting. I thought it might have been a domestic row and maybe she had been locked outside because she was in the street.

“The first thing I heard the woman say was ‘Help me!’, which she said quite quietly before she began shouting loudly.

“After the shouting it became calmer and I thought that the drunken row had calmed down. But then I remember the woman must have gone back into the house because I heard lots and lots of shrieking from inside.”

She added: “It’s a shock to hear there has been a murder here because this is a very quiet road and there is never any trouble.”

Police officers were searching the flat in the quiet cul-de-sac yesterday afternoon. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We were called just after 3.30am on Sunday to reports of a man being stabbed in Streatham. Police and paramedics attended and found a man, aged about 40, suffering from stab wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”

The spokesman added: “We believe we know the man’s name but we are awaiting formal identification and confirmation that his next of kin have been informed.

No one has been arrested in connection with the attack.

Times Recommends

• Tree stump 'shows image of Virgin Mary'
• BBC drops Strictly judge for younger model
• Trafalgar Square 'reduced to a spectacle'