Wrong place..wrong time

Stab death lads innocent victims of turf war, say locals. Community in shock as 3 men and teenager arrested

- DAN WARBURTON, NIC NORTH and JACKIE ANNETT

THE two boys knifed to death in front of horrified bus passengers were innocent victims of escalating gang violence, say neighbours.

Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, were killed in a late-night stabbing by attackers who fled in a waiting car.

Residents and police think they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time on Saturday.

Mechanic Jason Teakel, 45, whose 15-year-old son was a friend of the boys and attends the same school, is sure they were innocent.

He said of the Bristol neighbourhood where the tragedy happened: "There is a postcode war going on around here between gangs in Knowle and gangs in Hartcliffe about a mile away.

"But Max and Mason were definitely not in any gang, I can assure you of that. My son has confirmed this.

"They were good boys who were not caught up in anything until the night they died." His wife Victoria, 45, a security worker, agreed there was a gang war raging in Bristol.

She added: "It has gone crazy these last couple of years. These gangs, they are all as bad as one another.

"I think what's happened is a gang from around here has gone over to Hartcliffe and caused some trouble, so the Hartcliffe gang has come here to teach them a lesson.

"Max and Mason have somehow ended up as the innocent victims of this stupid, wasteful violence. I feel absolutely sickened by it.