Beach Haven residents are gathering to support one another and karakia (prayer) tonight following a gruesome stabbing on Friday that shook the community.
Two teenagers, aged 14 and 17, were arrested in the Far North yesterday and charged with murder after the suspected road rage attack on Friday night left a local man dead.
It’s believed the victim was attacked inside his car around 7pm after an altercation between two cars and suffered multiple stab wounds to his neck, chest and leg.
Neighbours and emergency services tried to save the man, but he died at the scene of the attack on Beach Haven Rd.
Today, residents are meeting at Beach Haven House at 6pm for the karakia, which will be led by Apotoro Shannon Leilua.
A bystander to the attack, red-eyed and at times on the verge of tears, told the Herald on Sunday there was “so much blood” after the incident.
He said he saw two young men attacking a third man in a car on Beach Haven Rd about 7pm on Friday after what sounded like a minor traffic crash.
Police later tracked down a black BMW sedan they believed was involved. The Herald on Sunday photographed the car in the nearby suburb of Glenfield.
The victim’s devastated family yesterday asked for privacy while mourning a man who one friend described on social media as the “loveliest, kindest boy”.
A family member said: “It is an open investigation, so it’s important the police do their thing and we ask that the media allow us to grieve privately.”
The resident who rushed to the victim’s aid said he and others had applied pressure to the man’s wounds.
“I find comfort in hoping that he found comfort that there were people there talking to him ... when he passed,” the resident said. “To be with someone in their last moments like that, that’s quite a connection.”
Photos from the scene on Friday showed damage to the front bumper of the victim’s car.
One resident said he saw that two young men had already left the black car and were allegedly attacking the victim — believed to be in his 30s — in the car behind.
The attack lasted just seconds.
The resident rushed to the victim’s car and was already on the phone to 111 before he reached it, simultaneously screaming for help from nearby neighbours, who were emerging from their homes.
He, his partner and a third woman trained in CPR tried to provide first aid and apply pressure to the wounds.
“But there was just so much blood. I’ve never seen nothing like that before,” he said.
They saw wounds on the victim’s face and neck area, as well as multiple wounds on his leg, but the worst injury was to his chest, the resident said.
“That was our main concern, his chest,” he said. “You just don’t ever expect to see that right in front of your face.”
The first police car was on the scene within about a minute. As many as five patrol cars arrived soon after.
At the instructions of police, residents helped remove the victim from his car and place him on the footpath so more concerted efforts could be made to revive him.
“But I personally believe he was already gone,” the resident said.
“He was pretty much fighting for his life by the time I had even got to the car and managed to apply pressure to his wounds.”