Teenage boys stabbed to death by machete-armed gang after wrongly accused of vandalism: prosecutors

Two teenage boys were stabbed to death in England by a gang armed with machetes after being blamed for vandalism they did not commit, prosecutors said in court this week.

On January 27, Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, were killed in Bristol after a group of four teenagers and an adult believed they were responsible for an earlier attack in which rocks were thrown at a house, as reported by The independent. One woman was injured as a result of the vandalism.

CCTV footage of the incident was shown to jurors at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday. Four teenage boys were seen jumping out of an Audi Q2 and attacking Driston and Rist. The teens were then allegedly driven away by 45-year-old Antony Snook, as reported by The Guardian.

“As they drove past Max and Mason as they walked down the street, they thought they had seen the people responsible for the earlier attack – or at least people connected to it,” prosecutor Ray Tully KC told the court . ‘They were completely wrong about that. Max and Mason had absolutely nothing to do with any previous incident and no connection whatsoever with those events.”

The footage showed the two teenagers collapsing in the street. They later died of stab wounds. Two machetes allegedly used in the attack were recovered by investigators, ITV News reports.

“Basically, we’re saying they were in it together,” Tully told the court. “At the very least, they really wanted to hurt both boys. This was an attack based on revenge. They had gone armed and wanted to harm those they believed responsible.”

Snook, 18-year-old Riley Tolliver and the three other teens, ages 15, 16 and 17, have been charged with two counts of murder.

The judge, Judge May, told jurors that the teenage defendants have special educational needs.