Six youths have been charged after a 15-year-old was stabbed to death during a brawl near his church in Melbourne’s west.
Solomone Taufeulungaki was killed in Deer Park near Brimbank Shopping Centre on Tuesday.
Six males aged 13 to 16 were charged on Wednesday with violent disorder and affray and were to face court later in the day.
The accused are from St Albans, Deer Park and Hoppers Crossing.
Solomone was killed opposite his place of worship, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Neale Road, his father said.
“Every Sunday my son come to this church. I believe may be every Sunday his spirit join with us in this true church, every Sunday,” Atunaisa Taufeulungaki told reporters.
As for those behind his son’s death, he said: “We love them. We need to send love to their parents.”
The grief-stricken family laid yellow and blue flowers on Wednesday at the site where he died.
His mother, Salome Taufeulungaki, says the family does not want revenge.
“We want our son back home. He’s a lovely kid. No revenge,” she told Melbourne radio 3AW.
Solomone was killed when a group of eight-to-10 males approached him on Tuesday afternoon.
Witnesses told Nine News the group had knives up their sleeves and stabbed the teen “multiple times” in the chest and stomach.
The group fled, but six were soon arrested on nearby Billingham Road.
“He’s a good kid. He goes to church. He comes from a good family, a humble family. It’s just so unfortunate this has happened to him,” family friend Foa Galuega said.
The brawl and subsequent stabbing are believed to have been sparked by an argument on social media, Nine reported.
Hours later, a fight broke out at the scene between about 30 people.
Footage of the second brawl posted on social media shows people running into the taped-off crime scene.
A police officer was taken to hospital and another man was treated for a cut to the head.
Three teenagers arrested over the second brawl have since been released.
A 15-year-old Sunshine youth and a 17-year-old Point Cook male were released pending summons for assault-related offences, police said.
A 15-year-old Hoppers Crossing boy was also interviewed and released.
