Enough is enough: The faces of those killed with knives in the West Midlands in just seven years
Below is a haunting list of lives lost to the merciless grip of knife crime.
Each entry on this tragic roster represents more than a name - it's a narrative of dreams shattered, families broken, and a community left grappling with grief, fear and anger.
Police in the region are doing their best to confront the chilling reality of the knife crime epidemic everyday, but at some point someone is going to have to stand up and say "enough is enough".
In the wake of another death yesterday in Bilston, as you read through the below list of names and take in their faces, consider that it's time to demand a safer, brighter future for the Black Country and beyond.
Knife crime has taken too many lives.
The victims of knife crime in our region
Shawn Seesahai, 19
Died on an area of open land off Laburnum Road in the Stowlawn area of Bilston shortly before 8.30pm on Monday, November 14 2023.
Jetmir Pemaj, 33
Died after early morning stabbing in Whitmore Reans, July 27 2023.
Joseph Riches, 16
Stabbed in Stourbridge and later died in Rowley Regis, July 15 2023.
Ashley Day, 20
Stabbed at a Digbeth party, June 29, 2023.
Ronique Thomas, 33
Knifed to death in Kings Heath, April 26 2023.
Kelvin Ward, 50
Stabbed to death during car jacking in Birmingham, April 18 2023.
Akeem Francis-Kerr, 29
Knifed to death in a Walsall nightclub, March 11 2023.
Kinga Roskinska, 37
Stabbed to death in Handsworth, March 14 2023.
Bailey Atkinson, 20
From Bloxwich, died after being attacked in Walsall town centre, January 28 2023.
Cody Fisher, 23
Stabbed in nightclub, December 26 2022.
Jack Lowe, 18
Stabbed to death in Darlaston, in December 2022.
Krystian Debski, 35
Killed by a knifeman on Soho Road, Handsworth, December 2022.
Cynthia Turner, 55
Stabbed to death by husband in Oldbury, December 2022.
Rommell Holding, 32
Stabbed during a row at a house in Oldbury, September 11 2022.
Sekou Doucoure, 16
Set upon and stabbed to death Lozells, July 2022.
Ronan Kanda, 16
Killed yards from his Lanesfield home, June 2022.
Zane Smart, 15
Died after fight alongside the Shropshire Union Canal, Wolverhampton, May 2022.
Shannon Stanley, 27
Died after being stabbed in Small Heath, May 2022.
Ian Kirwan, 53
Stabbed outside an ASDA in Redditch, March, 2022.
Marena Shaban, 41
A mother of four stabbed to death by her ex husband in Birmingham, January, 2022.
Lamin Barrow, 25
University of Wolverhampton music student, died of a single stab wound after a confrontation in Erdington, November 2021.
Martin Latham, 41
Died after a frenzied knife attack outside Asda, Heath Town, as he tried to intervene as a peacemaker in a fight, September 2021.
Jacob Billington, 23
Killed in Birmingham street, September 2021.
Berris Thomas, 62
Stabbed in his Wolverhampton home by son Jermaine, July 21, 2021.
Abdi Mohamed, 26
Stabbed near his Wednesbury office, June 2021.
Lee Gadd, 51
Killed by son Bradley Pye in his home, in Bloxwich, May 2021.
Delarno Samuels, 17
Died after being stabbed in Smethwick, May 2021.
Dea-John Reid, 14
Died after suffering a single stab wound in Kingstanding, May 2021.
Jack Barry, 19
Died after a knife fight in Hamstead, March, 2021.
Gary Warner, 31
Stabbed as he sat in his car in Sutton Coldfield, October 2020.
Paulius Petrasiunas, 24
Killed in machete attack in Wolverhampton, July 2020.
Julia Rawson, 42
A talented artist from Dudley, murdered, May 2020.
Karl Gallagher, 31
Stabbed outside a Smethwick pizza takeaway, April 2020.
Harvey Waterfield, 19
Died after being knifed in Dudley, March, 2020.
Dean Bayliss, 57
Died after he was stabbed during a confrontation in accommodation he was sharing in Handsworth, Birmingham, June 2019.
Stuart Roe, 34
A victim from Quarry Bank who was found with fatal stab wounds after an attack in Halesowen, December 2018.
Keelan Wilson, 15
Stabbed in Langley Road, Merry Hill, Wolverhampton. A judge said the murder was a “violent manifestation of gang culture”. May 2018.
Martin Briggs, 47
Stabbed in the neck in Cradley Heath, November 2017.
Ryan Passey, 24
Died after suffering a single stab wound to the chest at a nightclub in Stourbridge, August 2017.
John Joyce, 20
Died when serious trouble flared after a row in a Bilston pub over a game of pool, August 2017.
Daniel Baird, 26
Died following a pub stabbing in Digbeth, Birmingham, July 2017.
Tina Billingham, 54
Stabbed to death by her partner in Cradley Heath, April 2017.
James Brindley, 26
Stabbed through the heart by a 17-year-old as he walked just 400 yards from his home in Aldridge, June 2017.
Horace Williams, 38
Killed from a stab wound to the neck in an attact by a feud rival in a Smethwick cafe, April 2016.
Mircea Gheorghe Cozmiuc, 23
Stabbed 34 times in a frenzied attack in Carter Road, Whitmore Reans, September 2016.
