Anger over a meme is believed to be at the centre of the vicious murder of an innocent 12-year-old boy and his mate, which youth workers and former gang members say marks a dangerous escalation in Melbourne’s youth gang wars.

Twelve-year-old Chol Achiek was waiting for his mother to pick him up after basketball when he was ambushed in Cobblebank, near Melton , on Saturday night and died within metres of friend Dau Akueng, 15.

“When [his] mum arrived, she couldn’t find him, and then she saw the scene,” the younger boy’s father, Chuti Ngong, told this masthead. “We both came down to find him.”

The gang involved in the deadly attack that targeted the boys was also involved in the machete brawl at Northland shopping centre in May, as well as a string of violent home invasions which are

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