Mum-of-nine gunned down in flat as gang burst in executing nephew, claiming shooting was a case of ‘mistaken identity’
Anny Besala-Ekofo, 52, died in a hail of bullets as five people smashed down her front door at dawn blasting her to bits
A MUM of nine was shot dead yesterday as a gang burst into her flat looking for one of her sons and executed his cousin by mistake.
Anny Besala-Ekofo, 52, died in a hail of bullets as five people smashed down her front door at dawn.
Student Bervil Ekofo, 21, who had been staying the night at his aunt’s, was then blasted in the head.
The gang’s intended victim was not there, although his parents and most of his six brothers and two sisters were in the council flat.
A family friend said: “One of Anny’s sons was lying over her body, crying, ‘Wake up, mum’.”
The gang fled as armed police raced to the second-floor flat in East Finchley, North London.
Last night detectives hunting the killers were also trying to track down the missing son to put him protective custody.
Another source close to the family said: “He heard something was going to happen and was staying somewhere else for a few days.”
The cousin who died was a psychology student at West London University.
He was also an aspiring rapper using the name Knight Vercetti on YouTube.
A friend said: “He had nothing to do with gangs or crime.”
He had spent the night at his aunt’s because it was too late to go home.
His distraught sister Francine said he was shot in the head as he slept, adding: “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Churchgoing Anny and husband Jean-Pierre came to the UK as asylum seekers from Congo in 1991.
Cousin Fifi Selo, 38, said: “They never dreamt this kind of thing could happen in London. Anny was a mum to everybody. She was a wonderful woman, religious and a great mum.”
As the bodies were brought out around 50 relatives and friends, many Congolese, held a vigil, wailing the mum’s nickname: “Mamale.”
Bervil’s shattered mum Maymie had to be restrained after breaking through the police cordon. She described him as “an angel” — saying: “He was just a perfect boy.
“He was my friend, my best friend, my everything.”