Three men were murdered during a Bank Holiday weekend involving gang street battles in the West Midlands and London.

In three separate incidents one man was shot and two others stabbed to death.

Police in Birmingham appealed for calm between rival gangs after Dimitris Nathaniel Foskin, 24, died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. It is believed that he was cornered in an alley and up to four shots were fired on Saturday night in the Newtown area of Birmingham.

Despite his injuries he managed to clamber over a wall but collapsed in a garden as his killers fled. He was taken to City Hospital where he later died.

Chief Superintendent Mick Treble said that tension between rival gangs had been mounting in recent days and he feared that the latest murder could lead to revenge attacks.

“I would like to appeal for calm in the sense that a life has been wasted,” he said. “If there is tension within the community then people need to talk to the police. We are aware of gang rivalries. When there is a shooting in Birmingham tensions between gangs do arise and, as part of keeping an open mind, if this does end up being part of a gang dispute, then we would appeal for calm.”

Mr Foskin had been out socialising with friends and cousins shortly before he was shot in the chest. It is thought that he had been with three friends visiting properties in Hockley Close and, after leaving one home alone, had been shot. It remained unclear whether he was a member of a gang.

Mr Treble added: “We are very much alive to the intelligence that comes from the community itself and we have put extra resources on the ground. We have put on high-visibility patrols, which include armed patrols.

Mr Foskin’s death happened after police asked 26 nightclubs in the city to close at 4am over the Bank Holiday weekend in an effort to help officers to fight gun crime in the city.

The murder of Mr Foskin, who was unemployed and lived with his mother, is the third in the Newtown area in less than a year. In March Nehemiah Bryce, 27, was shot only a few hundred yards from the scene of Saturday’s shooting. In December last year Assar Joseph Mohammed Tomlinson was shot dead during a row outside the King of the Road pub. A local newspaper claimed that new conflicts were emerging between gang members of the Burger Bar Boys and the Johnson Crew in the city. In 2003, a shootout involving members of the rival gangs, claimed the lives of two innocent teenagers, Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and Charlene Ellis, 18, outside a new year party.

In Walthamstow, East London, an 18-year-old man, named locally as Charles Junior Hendricks, was stabbed near a bus garage at 1.40am yesterday. Officers on a routine patrol spotted three males running away from the scene. When they went to investigate they discovered a man suffering from stab wounds. He was taken to Whipps Cross Hospital where he died. Weda Campbell, the teenager’s grandmother, said: “He was supposed to go to college in September. He wanted to be a mechanic. He was a very good boy. I am telling you this from the heart, not because he was my grandson.”

Two youths were arrested near the scene and are in police custody. One of them, a 17-year-old male, required hospital treatment for slash wounds to his arm. The Olympic handover celebrations in the area, near where many stadiums are being built, were cancelled because of the murder. A sign outside Walthamstow Tube station said the area was now a crime scene.

Acting Detective Chief Inspector John Sandlin said: “I am appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time of the murder to please contact police with any information.”

The incident happened close to a well-lit bus garage in Walthamstow Central. The victim is the 24th teenager to be murdered in the capital this year.

In Wolverhampton city centre a 21-year-old man was stabbed through the heart early yesterday. Despite his injuries he managed to flag down a taxi to get to New Cross Hospital, where he died. Police attended when hospital staff contacted them to report the incident.

In Essex, an 18-year-old man remained in a “critical, life-threatening” condition after suffering a severe head injury in a street attack, police said. The teenager, from Clacton, Essex, was attacked in the centre of Walton, in the early hours of Saturday. Detectives appealed for witnesses, saying that there were numerous people on the street at the time of the attack.

Times Recommends

• An officer and a gentle woman
• Dame Helen Mirren is worthy of the Epidaurus
• Foods that can help to prevent swine flu