'Heart of gold': Young carpenter stabbed to death 'defending his girlfriend'
A young tradie who died while defending his girlfriend on a Victorian street has been remembered as a "go-getter" with a "heart of gold".
Carpenter Cam Smith, 26, died at the scene on Wednesday night and his father has remembered his son as someone ready to start a family.
"He wanted a family and his life was snuffed out in a matter of minutes," Mike Smith told 3AW.
Mr Smith said his son was protecting his girlfriend after a group approached them in Seaford, southeast of Melbourne.
"He went to defend her and a bottle was broken, and in that fight he was stabbed in the heart and died fairly quickly," Mr Smith said.
Mr Smith’s sister left a heartwarming tribute to her brother on Facebook saying he was “taken far too soon”.
“My brother was the most kind hearted, generous, hard working, loving person you could ever meet. I am feeling so numb.
“A beautiful soul, way too good for this world. Our life will never be the same again. My heart is shattered. A piece of me is missing.”
Teen arrested as search for other suspects continues
A 17-year-old from Frankston was arrested on Thursday morning, and police are looking for two other males and a female.
The incident has highlighted ongoing Victoria Police concerns about crime involving knives and edged weapons.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said on Thursday morning that there were several leads and called on the group to hand themselves in to police.
He added knife and edged-weapon crime remains a massive worry.
"Stabbings, knife attacks (are) something I am terribly concerned about at the moment," he told 3AW.
"I've been having that monitored - there are intelligence assessments for the last six months.
"We've seen significant rises in the use of edged weapons and knives and it's a real concern for us."
‘Nightmare scene’
Mr Patton said there were a number of witnesses to Wednesday night's stabbing.
"There are a number of leads. It appears there was an altercation and that's led to a male being stabbed, which is a horrible outcome," he said.
"We will identify the offenders, there's no doubt about that... they would be better off coming forward and handing themselves in."
Witnesses posted about the event on social media, reporting seeing the glass bottle allegedly used to stab Mr Smith.
Some said they saw him allegedly kicked twice in the head before the offenders fled, according to news.com.au.
One witness named Annette said she was attempting to walk to the beach but had to turn around when she saw what was happening.
“It was a scene best to avoid, and then while attempting to walk back home another nightmare scene witnessing ambos and police doing CPR then proceeding to put a white sheet over apparently a young male,” she told news.
A 16-year-old witness told the Leader he saw a man fall to the ground during the alleged attack.
“There was blood everywhere, it was really bad,” he said.
- with AAP
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