

Chris Fox And Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





Friends have identified a 19-year-old man who died after he was stabbed at a house party in Mississauga overnight, saying he was just trying to break up a fight between others.

The stabbing occurred at a residence near Tradewind Drive and Winston Churchill Boulevard at around 1:15 a.m.

Paramedics say the victim was without vital signs at the scene and was rushed to hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced dead.

Classmates and friends identified him as Daniel Smith.

No arrests have been made at this time.

“We are urging anybody who knows anything or who was in the residence to contact police,” Const. Bally Saini told CP24 at the scene. “There were a lot of people that were present at the house party that we may not have spoken to yet.”

Saini said that homicide detectives will be canvassing the surrounding neighbourhood later this morning in the hopes that someone may have seen something.

She said detectives are also in the processes of interviewing witnesses who were at the party.

“Homicide has taken over and they will be canvassing area, collecting any information and looking at video surveillance as well in order to figure out exactly what transpired,” Saini said.

Neighbours told CP24 that between 50 and 100 people were outside the home in the moments following the stabbing.

One man who lives down the street and eventually went outside to see what the commotion said that he was informed that there was some sort of post-prom party taking place at the house when the stabbing happened.

“I talked to a couple of girls who were very distraught. They said it was a post prom party and someone had been stabbed,” Michael Freeze said. “They were crying, they were on their cell phones and they were trying to establish where they were because a lot of them didn’t know the area.”

Police say that they believe the homicide is an "isolated incident."

On Saturday night, several hundred of Smith’s friends and acquaintances gathered at Osprey Marsh in Mississauga to light candles and honour his memory.

Rafay Iqbal said Smith was energetic, caring, kind and funny.

“Knowing that he is gone is the hardest thing I’ve had to hear in my entire life.”

Iqbal said was not at the party but said he was told Smith was stabbed as he tried to break up a fight between others.

“I just heard that he tried stopping the fight, and things went south,” Iqbal said. “He was heroic. He got into the middle of it even though he knew he was going to get hurt.”