A 17-year-old remains in custody after his arrest over the suspected stabbing death of a man in Seaford, southeast of Melbourne.
Carpenter Cam Smith, 26, died at the scene on Wednesday night and his father has remembered him as a "go-getter" with "a heart of gold".
"He wanted a family and his life was snuffed out in a matter of minutes," Mike Smith told 3AW.
The incident has highlighted ongoing Victoria Police concerns about crime involving knives and edged weapons.
The teenager from Frankston was arrested on Thursday morning, and police are looking for two other males and a female.
Mr Smith said his son was protecting his girlfriend after a group approached them.
"He went to defend her and a bottle was broken, and in that fight he was stabbed in the heart and died fairly quickly," Mr Smith said.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said on Thursday morning that there were several leads and called on the four people to hand themselves in to police.
He added knife and edged-weapon crime remains a massive worry.
"Stabbings, knife attacks (are) something I am terribly concerned about at the moment," he told 3AW.
"I've been having that monitored - there are intelligence assessments for the last six months.
"We've seen significant rises in the use of edged weapons and knives and it's a real concern for us."
Mr Patton said there were a number of witnesses to Wednesday night's stabbing.
"There are a number of leads. It appears there was an altercation and that's led to a male being stabbed, which is a horrible outcome," he said.
"We will identify the offenders, there's no doubt about that.
"They would be better off coming forward and handing themselves in."
Australian Associated Press
