A baby who was delivered in an emergency procedure after his mother was stabbed to death in London over the weekend has died, police say.
The newborn boy, who was named Riley, died in hospital at 3:10 a.m. local time Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Despite the efforts of paramedics, the baby’s 26-year-old mother died inside a property in Thornton Heath, south London, after suffering stab wounds and going into cardiac arrest in the early hours of Saturday morning. The woman – named as Kelly Mary Fauvrelle – was approximately eight months pregnant.
“This morning, we heard the sad news that Kelly’s baby son, Riley, has died in hospital. Our thoughts remain with their family,” Detective Chief Inspector Mick Norman, who is leading the murder investigation, said in a statement Wednesday.
Police have released CCTV footage of a man they want to identify in connection with the attack, who was seen running away from Fauvrelle’s address.
Two men, a 37-year-old and a 29-year-old, were arrested on June 29 and June 30 on suspicion of murder, but they were released with no further action and released on bail respectively.
Norman said that a “dedicated team of detectives were working day and night on the investigation into Fauvrelle’s murder.”
“We are doing absolutely everything in our power to find the person responsible,” he added.
“I am aware that there is some speculation about whether Kelly’s attacker was known to her. At this stage we simply are not in a position to say and we must retain an open mind.”
Knife crime has become a national crisis in the UK, where police recorded a total of 40,577 offenses involving a knife or sharp instrument last year – 10,000 more than in 2011.
Few weekends pass without reports of knife violence, and flowers laid on London street corners serve as near-daily reminders of its results.
In June, two teenagers died moments apart on a bloody Friday night in London when four people were stabbed and a teenager was shot dead, in a spate of separate incidents.
CNN’s Rob Picheta contributed to this report.