Knife-wielding attackers filmed their teenage victim as he lay bleeding on the ground unconscious while a heroic, blood-soaked good Samaritan tried to save his life.
The boy, aged 17, was ambushed in a car park behind a Coles supermarket at the CS Square shopping centre in the western Melbourne suburb of Caroline Springs on Thursday evening.
He suffered wounds to his upper-body in the brutal attack.
An ambulance rushed the boy to Royal Melbourne Hospital and on Friday he remained there in a serious condition.
The man who came to the stabbed boy’s aid said the attackers callously stood and watched the victim bleed on the concrete, with some filming the horrific scene on their phones and only one offering help to the fallen teen.
The man told the Herald Sun he feared the boy would die as he desperately held his head off the ground.
‘He was in and out of consciousness throughout the process, I was just trying to keep him awake and keep him alive,’ the man said.
‘From the wounds I witnessed, (the weapon) was something large, it wasn’t a kitchen knife or a home knife, it was definitely something like a machete.
A boy, reported to be 17, was stabbed by a group of around 10 blade wielding attackers in a western Melbourne shopping centre carpark (pictured: blood stained clothes at the scene)
‘There was blood everywhere, all over me.’
‘I saw so many people standing around, there were so many not helping besides one person.’
He described the victim and most of the teenagers who attacked him as being black.
The attackers are believed to have fled the scene in a car through the loading bay of Coles.
Uniformed police and detectives remained at the scene until late into the evening.
Police and ambulance were called to the CS Square shopping centre on Thursday at around 5.15pm
Uniformed and plains clothes officers remained at the scene until late in the night collecting evidence
‘Investigators are still trying to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and the investigation is ongoing but it is believed the offenders have left the area,’ a Victoria Police statement said.
Officers sought witnesses to the bloodshed and talked to local business operators and shoppers.
It is understood CCTV captured the incident and police will be using that footage as part of their investigation.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
