Members of Perth's young Indigenous community have come together to honour schoolboy Cassius Turvey and share their grief and concerns in the wake of his death.
Cassius, 15, died on Sunday, 10 days after he was allegedly bashed while walking home from school with a group of friends in Middle Swan, in Perth's north-east.
His death has sparked outpourings of grief and has seen Indigenous elders voicing fears that racism played a part in the attack.
However WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has urged the public against "unfounded speculation" before the case goes before the courts, and stressed police are continuing to investigate the circumstances.
A 21-year-old man has been charged with Cassius's murder as well as assaulting another boy in the group and stealing his crutches.
Teenagers fearful following Cassius's death
Indigenous teenager, Dallmyn Kelly, was among hundreds of people who attended a community gathering for Cassius at Weeip Park in Midland.
"This is a terrible loss for the community… it's good to see the community get together," Dallmyn said.
"I feel really awful, this could happen to any teenagers our age, catching the bus and going home.
"This could have happened to me, so I'm a bit scared.
"We need to stick together as a community and to fight through this sad, sad time."
Djayvian Narrier, 13, attends Cassius's school.
"We're all here for Cassius," Djayvian said.
"He was a good kid, he was responsible, he was kind, he was funny and he was caring about everyone, even people he didn't know.
"He would still care about them if they were feeling down, he just asked them if they were ok.
"I'm feeling upset losing a good friend, just sad that it happened."
His father, Michael Narrier, said it was a tough time for everybody.
"It's affecting everyone in different ways, we don't know how to get through this at the moment," he said.
Cassius's mother grateful for support
Cassius's mother Mechelle Turvey said she had been overwhelmed by the community support.
"It's unreal… lots of people are coming to me and saying 'sorry for your loss' but he's not just my loss, he's everyone's loss, even people that didn't know him," she said.
"We also have to think about the other children that have seen what happened to my son, they're traumatised, they're part of it too.
"This is the worst thing to happen but it's just amazing how it's brought the community together.
"This is black and white – you can see the diversity of people here today, they are devastated."
Actor and Yamatji man Ernie Dingo was cooking sausages at the gathering.
"The most important feeling about today's function is showing family that we have a responsibility to look after each other," he said.
"A lot of our kids have a fear in-built in them from the past so that's traumatic for them and a couple of the little ones aren't even coming out of their room… and that's wrong for these young blokes to now lock themselves away in fear.
"Has there been counselling offered for these boys from the government, from authority because of such a traumatic thing?"
