Aussie city rocked after 'much-loved' shop owner stabbed to death

Thursday, 24 April 2025 11:08

An 18-year-old man has handed himself in to police but is yet to be charged.

A teenager has been arrested after a "much-loved member of the community" and owner of a Darwin supermarket was allegedly stabbed to death in the Northern Territory yesterday afternoon.

The 18-year-old male handed himself in to Darwin police at Palmerston Police Station at 12.35am and was immediately arrested.

Police allege the teen was involved in a robbery and stabbing incident in Nightcliff yesterday.

A male was allegedly stealing items from a supermarket on Progress Drive at 5.15pm when 71-year-old store owner Linford Feick confronted the male and asked him to return the items.

The teenager allegedly stabbed the man with an "edged weapon" and fled on a bike, NT Police said.

Patrons inside the shop performed first aid before paramedics arrived, however, he died at the scene.

The 18-year-old has not yet been charged, but he remains in custody.

Northern Territory Assistant Police Commissioner Travis Wurst said a community effort saw the teenager hand himself in.

"We were able to identify CCTV relatively quickly and considerable efforts were put in place with multiple specialist teams flooding into the community to locate him," Wurst said.

"As a consequence... he handed himself into the police station at Palmerston soon after midnight the morning.

"He was taken to police custody for the incident that occurred at the supermarket."

The teen was on bail with conditions at the time and did not have an ankle bracelet as a condition of bail.

NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro told ABC Radio that the state government stands with the community in the aftermath of the incident.

"He was a much-loved member of our community, here we are again as a community saying enough is enough, when is it going to stop," she said.

"We've been looking really closely at continuing reform on bail laws... Everything is on the table, we need to make sure we're addressing this.

"What we've got is a decade of failure, we've seen a string of [alleged] offences over the last few months, particularly around people who [allegedly] commit crimes on bail."

"A family has lost a father, a brother, a loved one."

Wurst said the teen turned 18 three days ago.