Rebecca Ikumelo, a 33-year-old Nigerian woman, based in Newham, East London, has died in hospital on Saturday after being critically injured during artist Asake’s concert on Thursday.
The mother-of-two died following a crowd crush at the O2 Academy in Brixton
Friends have described the single mother and autism campaigner as a ‘beautiful woman who radiated positive energy and was dedicated to being the best version of herself for her kids”.
The Metropolitan Police said two other women, aged 21 and 23, remain in a critical condition. Asake has said he is ‘praying’ for those injured.
In a statement, Rebecca’s family said: “Rebecca was a graduate of nursing. She was an adorable mother of two children who loved working with kids.
“She was well respected in the family for her care, kindness and love. Her parents call her Tosin (short for Oluwatosin) meaning “Lord is Worthy”.”
The Met Police said specialist officers are providing support to the family of Rebecca Ikumelo and that a post-mortem examination will be held tomorrow at Greenwich Public Mortuary.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said City Hall is in contact with venues and authorities across the capital to make sure ‘nothing like this happens again’.
“I am heartbroken by the tragic death of Rebecca Ikumelo who has very sadly died following the awful events on Thursday night in Brixton,” he said.
“Rebecca had her whole life ahead of her and on behalf of all Londoners, I would like to extend my condolences to her family, friends and loved ones at this extremely difficult time.”
Academy Music Group, which owns and runs music venues across the UK, said in a statement: “All at O2 Academy Brixton and Academy Music Group are deeply saddened by the news of the tragic death of Rebecca Ikumelo.
“We send our heartfelt condolences to Rebecca’s family and friends, and our thoughts are with everyone affected by this devastating news at this extremely difficult time.”
Chief Superintendent Wingrove, policing commander for Lambeth and Southwark, added: “I’d like to extend my sympathies to all those who have been affected. Having seen some of the really upsetting images on social media our thoughts are with them.
“An urgent investigation is currently under way led by detectives from our Specialist Crime Command and cordons remain in place as officers continue to work at the scene. This is still a fast moving and evolving picture and we are working to establish the events that led up to the incident.
“We are also aware of a vast amount of footage on social media and of course this will be examined as part of the investigation along with footage from officers” body worn video cameras.
In a statement outside Brixton police station yesterday afternoon, Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove said an “urgent investigation” was under way into the incident, which occurred when hordes of ticketless fans forced entry into the iconic south London music venue.
He said one person had been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.
We are working incredibly closely with our partners and community members and would like to thank them for their support so far in the investigation. We would also like to thank people for coming forward with information.
“We have set up an online page for the submission of photos and videos. There were around 4,000 potential witnesses present at the time of this incident and we want to urge any members of the public with information to come forward. We need your information as we try to establish what happened as quickly as we can.”
Any witnesses who are yet to speak with police are asked to call 101 ref 6725/15Dec.
Meanwhile, the force has insisted that there is “no evidence of misconduct” against a Met Police officer who was filmed pushing a reveller down stairs outside the O2 Academy.
However the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it will review the footage as part of its own probe into the chaotic scenes on Thursday evening.
Ikumelo leaves behind two sons, Jamael and Joelle.
The single mother worked as a nursing associate in sexual health until her older child was diagnosed with autism in 2020.
The 33-year-old had 13.4k followers on TikTok and 1.15k on YouTube and used her platform to raise awareness about autism.
Author Toni Tone shared a picture of Ms Ikumelo on Twitter along with the tribute: “This photo was taken the day I last saw Rebecca. She was a beautiful woman who radiated positive energy and was dedicated to being the best version of herself for her kids. She also did so much to raise awareness of autism spectrum disorder. My heart goes out to her family.”
Dozens of people who had watched her content on TikTok also shared tributes to the mother-of-two.
One fan wrote: “Rebecca Ikumelo was one of the sweetest people on tiktok. I’m not a tiktok fan but I really liked her content. She was a mother to an autistic child and shared tips on how to parent autistic children. This is devastating. Rest in heaven Rebecca.”