This whole incident brings back some very vivid memories of an incident I was party to back in Hamilton some four or five years ago. Whilst playing some Beach Volleyball in a small sandpit in the middle of a park in Hamilton, a young kid came running up to us saying “Can someone call the police? My bro’s just been stabbed!”
I thought this kid was trying to funny at first, until I looked at his hands and noticed they were absolutely drenched in blood. Once we realized he was serious, all my friends took off with him and I proceeded to grab my cell phone and dial 111, the emergency number in New Zealand. I promptly told the woman on the other end what had happened and where we were, then proceeded to wait by the side of the road so I could flag down the emergency services.
Once they arrived, I walked around to where the kid was and the reality of the entire situation hit home as I was met by the vision of a very pale young Maori boy. When the paramedics finally got there and assessed him, they quickly loaded him up, lifting his limp, barely alive body into the Ambulance. He died on the way to the Hospital, just 5 minutes away from the scene of the crime.
What was so bad that it incited such a violent attack? He was wearing his colors and ran into some rivals. The saddest part about all of this is that the kid who got stabbed, the kid who came to get us and the kid who actually did the stabbing were only 14 or 15 years old. Somehow, they had gotten themselves mixed up in a world they knew nothing about and now one had paid the ultimate price.
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