Local Don Rei - who lives along Power Street and is an alumni of Doonside Technology High School, which is next to Crawford Public School, said he came home to find the street closed, two helicopters flying above and a heavy police presence.

He said animosity between the residents of the Blacktown and Mount Druitt suburbs went back decades but during his time, the focus was on competition between the two rugby league teams.

He said truancy was a major problem with kids riding bikes up and down the street during school hours.

Most houses on the street have been burgled, he said, with many residents installing security cameras or getting big dogs.

“I don’t know what can be done. How are these children bringing knives to school? It’s dreadful,” he said. “The solution is probably stricter schooling values.”

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said he was so concerned about the escalating violence he was considering moving.

“I’m worried about my nephews; it’s just getting worse,” he said.

Police are investigating whether the teenagers were involved in an altercation on a bus before the fatal stabbing. One line of inquiry is whether the stabbings were part of the so-called “postcode wars” involving rival teenagers from neighbouring suburbs.

The stabbing follows the murder of local teenager Uati Faletolu, 17, at the 2022 Easter Show, allegedly at the hands of teenagers from a rival gang. Two 18-year-olds and a 14-year-old, who allegedly inflicted the fatal wounds, were later charged.

Police have not confirmed whether Faletolu was a member of the Doonside gang known as “67”, in a nod to the suburb postcode 2767, which has a history of rivalry with Mt Druitt gang RFA (“ready for anything”).

The words “six seven, mother—-er” were allegedly called out during the melee by a 15-year-old who later pleaded guilty to affray and carrying a knife.

Music posted to TikTok, purportedly by RFA, has since referenced Faletolu’s death with subtitles and imagery.

One recent clip, overlaid with photographs of Faletolu, includes the lyrics: “You got dipped and cut right back and burnt that Holden/My side gets straight to the action”.

Another posted by Mt Druitt rap group Onefour, alluding to the Doonside and Mt Druitt district postcodes 2767 and 2760, features the lines: “Cops got my crew on the hit list, ’cos they know One Four means business/ 27 to 60 cuz/ Like Hunger Games I’ll back my district”.

OneFour, whose tours have been shut down by police to mitigate any incitement to violence, denies a connection to RFA and says its lyrics should not be taken literally.

Assault and robbery offences involving knives have been broadly trending downwards over the last 20 years, according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

Among 208 non-domestic assaults with a knife in NSW last year, 37 of the accused were under the age of 18.

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