Max Dixon and Mason Rist were on their way to get a pizza when they were killed in Bristol earlier this year. A man and four teenagers were found guilty of their murders following a five-week trial this afternoon (Friday, November 15).
The boys were killed in a case of mistaken identity on a street in Knowle West in January. Bristol Crown Court heard how Antony Snook, Riley Tolliver and three boys now aged 15, 16 and 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, worked “like a five-a-side-team” to murder them.
Snook drove the teenagers, who were armed with zombie knives, to the area on a revenge mission following an attack on a house in Hartcliffe earlier that night. However Max, 16, and his best friend Mason, 15, had nothing to do with what happened in Hartcliffe.
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. He said: “They are beautiful boys, going about their business, in their own community when they were senselessly attacked by the individuals for no reason.
“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.”
Sentencing of the five will take place at a later date.