Teenage boy stabbed to death at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show identified by colleagues and family

The teenage boy killed at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show has been identified, as police admit his killer, or killers, remain on the run.

A 17-year-old boy stabbed to death at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney has been mourned by friends and colleagues, after police confirmed the teenager had been working at the event.

Despite paramedics’ best efforts, the teenager died while being taken to Westmead Hospital after being knifed in the chest about 8pm on Monday.

He was remembered on social media on Tuesday by colleagues, who described it as a “blessing” to have worked with him, and by family, who prayed for forgiveness.

A 16-year-old boy also injured in the fracas remains in Westmead Hospital in a stable condition after being stabbed in the leg.

Another teenager, 15, was arrested nearby a short time later. At the time he was allegedly in possession of a knife.

He was taken to Auburn Police Station and charged with affray, armed with intent to commit indictable offence, and custody of knife in public place.

The teen was refused bail to appear at a children’s court on Tuesday.

No further charges have yet been laid, with police admitting there are “further suspects at large”, and are unsure what exactly sparked the deadly fight.

Superintendent Danielle Emerton told reporters on Tuesday while there were major questions lingering over the boy’s death, detectives believed it was “not a random attack”, and instead was the result of a planned confrontation between “two groups of male youths”.

“We believe there is someone we still need to identify that is responsible for the stabbing,” she said. “It may be one person, it may be a number of people.

“There were two groups involved in the affray incident where there was a knife involved. so we are looking at additional people that were involved in last night’s attack,” she said.

The drama unfolded at about 8pm, with disturbing footage from the scene showing a wild brawl in front of a carnival ride.

One picture circulated widely on social media showed a man dressed in all black appearing to hold a knife as he moved through a crowd.

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The teenager killed in a horror Easter Show brawl had been working at the event. Picture: Facebook.

A 17-year-old boy was fatally stabbed at the Royal Easter Show on Monday night. Picture: Twitter

A man was seen in handcuffs at the scene shortly afterwards. Picture: Twitter

The teenager had posted on social media days before the fight that he wished his girlfriend was working alongside him.

Footage from the scene shows two men fighting as shocked families look on.

One of the men is seen punching the other in the ribs and in the head, before another man rushes in to defend him.

A picture later shows a man in handcuffs, smiling at the camera, with blood on his hands.

Disturbing footage also showed paramedics performing CPR on a person.

Police officers carried out immediate first aid on the boy, before paramedics arrived to find him in cardiac arrest, having suffered a major stab wound to his chest.

“Paramedics performed CPR and a number of other critical interventions at the scene before loading the patients to Westmead Hospital,” Inspector Mark Whittaker of NSW Ambulance said.

Tributes have flooded social media in the wake of the teen's death. Picture: TikTok

“Unfortunately despite best efforts he couldn’t be resuscitated.

“There’s no doubt this would have been a very confronting scene for the dozens of witnesses who were out to enjoy an evening at the Royal Easter Show.”

Part of the showground was shut down by police, while a 15-year-old was arrested at the scene and remains at Auburn Police Station as of Monday morning.

Anyone with more information is urged to contact Auburn Police or call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Teen remembered as ‘so nice’

Tributes have flooded social media in the wake of the teenager’s death, with show-goers offering condolences to the teen, who many said had earlier been “so nice” to them.

“Prayers out to his family, he was so nice he made sure I was all and all locked in,” one wrote.

“He was the one that came and unlocked my bar because it was stuck,” another said.

“No way that’s him, he was such a nice guy. I just got chills because he helped me on that ride an hour before, gone too soon. May he Rest In Peace,” a third said.

An Easter Show colleague also paid tribute to the late teen in the caption of a TikTok video that showed him watching the ride he was employed to help operate.

“Was a blessing working with you … rest in love young soldier,” he wrote.

Relatives have also taken to social media to express their grief, with a woman understood to be the boy’s aunty paying tribute to him Monday evening.

“Aw my neffy! May you rest peacefully. Love you. All my love to your mum and siblings and the rest of our family. I pray for peace, love and forgiveness in Jesus’ mighty name,” she wrote to Facebook.

A cousin of the teen wrote: “Too soon! Love you baby cousin”.

“Rest in love my cousin,” another said.

Prime Minister ‘deeply distressed’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was “deeply distressed about this terrible incident”.

“All our kids will be going to the Royal Easter Show. My kids will be going to the Royal Easter Show. We want them to be safe. This is a very distressing event,” he said on Tuesday.

“I have no doubt the NSW police force and the relevant state authorities are moving very quickly and will be ensuring they’re doing everything within their power to make sure the Royal Easter Show is safe.

“I’ve a lot of confidence in the NSW police force. They’re one of the largest police forces in the world and they’ve got an outstanding reputation and they’re well led, always have been.”

Mr Morrison added that violence displayed in the moments before the death had “no place in this country”.

“It has no place at an event where people are coming to enjoy themselves, where families are there to celebrate and for the first time to celebrate, and for the first time to be able to come together in such large numbers, which I think is tremendous,” he said.

He also offered his condolences to the boy’s family.

“I would say to the family of those who have lost their son, my heart goes out to you. Your hearts must be shattered and broken. But equally I would be asking all parents, obviously, to be taking care and making sure their kids are doing the right thing and making sure they’re staying safe and being very aware of their surroundings,” he said.

“The Easter Show should be safe and I have no doubt the police Minister in NSW and the premier will have more to say about this. This is a terrible, terrible incident.”

Previous Easter Show deaths

Two teenagers were also stabbed in a brawl at last year’s Easter Show, with an 18-year-old and 17-year-old suffering cuts to their legs.

This year’s Royal Easter Show was already mired in controversy after a young boy was pictured unrestrained on a ride.

Tristan Curtis, four, had to be hauled off the ride after screams prompted the operator to stop the ride.

Show organisers said the matter was a “training issue”.