Police guard the Moerewa house where a teenager was fatally stabbed early Sunday morning. Photo / Jenny Ling
Police guard the Moerewa house where a teenager was fatally stabbed early Sunday morning. Photo / Jenny Ling
The whānau of a teenager fatally stabbed at a party in the Far North are in shock.
Northland Police have launched a homicide inquiry after local man Krillan Koni Brown was stabbed to death at a Moerewa property early yesterday morning.
Police and ambulance were called to a Snowdon Aveaddress around 12.20am where the 18-year-old was found unresponsive.
A resident who lives nearby but didn't want to be named, said the stabbing happened "out of the blue".
He heard about it yesterday morning, but felt something was not right on Saturday night when his wife returned home from work after driving past the house.
"She could see something was going down," the resident said.
"She saw a couple of people out on the road and felt something wasn't right, so she sped up a bit. When she looked in the rear vision mirror there was a silhouette of a person running back to the house. This morning we heard a young fella was [dead]."
Police guard the Moerewa house where a teenager was fatally stabbed early Sunday morning. Photo / Jenny Ling
On Sunday morning, about 25 people, including young children, were standing across the road from the house, which was cordoned off and guarded by three uniformed police.
A family spokesperson, who did not want to be named, said the whānau at the scene, including the teen's dad, were too upset to speak.
They didn't want to comment until they "know the facts from the police", she said.
"I'm shocked," she said.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Dalzell said inquiries are ongoing to locate the offender.
He confirmed about 20 people were at the party.
"There were a number of young people at a gathering at the address, and as part of our inquiries we would like to speak to anyone who was there who has not yet spoken to us," he says.
Dalzell said he had "no information" that the stabbing was gang related, though a red scarf could be seen hanging from a window of the small brick house where it happened.
A red scarf can be seen dangling from the window of the house where a teen was fatally stabbed. Photo / Jenny Ling
Local kaumatua and church minister Laurie Anderson said police have asked him to bless the scene, and this was to be carried out on Sunday afternoon.
Brown's death is the fifth homicide in New Zealand in a week. There was a killing in Hamilton on June 5, and one in Auckland on June 4.
A man in his 50s died at Waihau Bay northeast of Ōpōtiki on June 1, the same day a gang member's body was found near Auckland hospital after a shooting in St Johns.
The Moerewa stabbing comes not long after a 17-year-old man was fatally shot at a Kaikohe property on February 24.
Tawhirimatea Leevi Jershon Tahere was found near a vehicle in a critical condition and died on the way to hospital.
And in April, 18-year-old Moerewa woman Nga Roimata Beattie-Rihari died after the parked car she was sitting in was hit by another vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road in the town.
