A man and four teenagers have been found guilty of murdering two boys in a case of mistaken identity in a botched revenge attack.
Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died from stab wounds after being chased by four “tooled up” teenagers on 27 January this year in Bristol.
Riley Tolliver, 18, and three boys aged 15, 16 and 17, had been driven to and from Knowle West by Antony Snook, 45, as part of a revenge mission.
The two victims had been wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at a house in the rival Hartcliffe district earlier that evening.
The pair were attacked shortly after leaving Mason’s home on Ilminster Avenue, Bristol Crown Court heard.
Speaking after the verdicts, Detective Superintendent Gary Haskins, senior investigating officer at Avon and Somerset Police, said Max and Mason had been going for a pizza when they were fatally attacked in a case of mistaken identity.
“They are beautiful boys, going about their business, in their own community when they were senselessly attacked by the individuals for no reason,” he said.
“What we know is that they passed Max when he was walking towards Mason’s house. Then Mason walks out of his house and joins Max.
“The vehicle is passing, they think ‘that’s them, they will do’. They were hunting around Knowle to find people.
“We know they had driven around Knowle two-and-a-half times before they came across these two boys.”
A CCTV camera on Mason’s house captured how the attack lasted just 33 seconds, including Snook’s Audi stopping, the four teenagers jumping out, attacking the two friends, returning to the car and it driving off.
Tolliver, who had a baseball bat, and the three teenagers armed with machetes jumped out of the car and chased after the two boys.
Max and Mason were seen going to different sides of the street, each pursued by two people from the vehicle.
Tolliver and the 15-year-old boy attacked Mason, while the 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old boy chased Max.
The 17-year-old boy also struck Mason, who was lying injured on the ground, as he headed back to the Audi after attacking Max.
Mason and Max sustained fatal stab injuries, and both died in hospital in the early hours of 28 January.
Snook drove the teenagers from the scene and dropped them off in Knowle West and a fire was lit in a back garden with items linked to the attack disposed of.
Meanwhile, the 16-year-old boy picked up a McDonald’s meal and drinks just six hours after the brutal attack.
Det Supt Haskins told the BBC: “I think it speaks volumes really. Two beautiful boys lost their lives, and they went to McDonald’s for an early morning breakfast.”
In a statement, Mason’s family said the loss of the boy was “like part of our jigsaw gone forever”.
“These dangerous individuals took away our son, brother, nephew, uncle and grandchild and we must now navigate the rest of our lives without our missing puzzle piece,” they added.
Max’s family said: “We will miss everything about him. We are broken without him but he would want us to carry on and he wouldn’t want anyone to be down.”
Snook will be sentenced on 19 November, while Tolliver and the three boys will be sentenced on 16 December.
