Aidan Smith couldn't wait to get to his best mate's 18th birthday party in Sydney's north-west on Saturday night.
The 16-year-old listened to hip-hop and talked excitedly with his friends as they made their way to the party, arriving at the house on Victoria Road in Ryde between 6 and 7pm.
![Aidan Smith, centre, died after being stabbed at a party in Ryde on Sunday.](/web/20160810012935im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/m/v/d/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqnexc.png/1470636963731.jpg)
He'd picked out a collared shirt; it was a rare occasion to dress up and celebrate.
Aidan was fatally stabbed just after midnight in a brawl that left five other males, and a female with stab wounds.
"He was just at his best friend's party when some idiot started stabbing people," Aidan's sister Nova Smith said.
Earlier reports suggested that Aidan and a group of friends made their way to the halfway house on Victoria Road about midnight, looking for a challenge after hearing someone at the party wanted to fight.
But his sister and several parents of teenagers who attended the party said Aidan was not looking for trouble.
"He didn't go to the house 'knowing there was a challenge' … He didn't hear that someone wanted a fight at a party," Ms Smith said.
![The scene of the stabbing in Ryde on Saturday night.](/web/20160810012935im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/m/s/m/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqnexc.png/1470632307550.jpg)
She wanted people to know her brother was a "good kid".
The mother of one of Aidan's friends said Aidan had put himself in harm's way to protect his friends.
![Police and forensics at the scene of the fatal stabbing at a party in Ryde.](/web/20160810012935im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/m/u/y/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqnexc.png/1470632307550.jpg)
"The kid's a hero," she said.
Some of the teenagers at the party told their parents that Aidan had tried to wrestle a knife from another partygoer.
![Aidan Smith, 16, was taken to Westmead Hospital but died shortly after.](/web/20160810012935im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/m/u/l/9/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gqnexc.png/1470632307550.jpg)
"He tried to save his friends ... they're such a solid bunch and they are devastated," said the mother, who asked not to be named.
Aidan was taken with stab wounds to Westmead Hospital, where he died a short time later.
Police are particularly keen to speak to one male involved in the brawl, who was also injured.
Hours after Mick Smith heard his son had died, he took to social media to confirm every parent's worst nightmare.
"Sadly the boy critically injured is my son ... He passed this morning ... RIP Aidan," he posted on Facebook.
On Sunday, Ryde Local Area Command Superintendent John Duncan said police were met with a "confronting" scene at the house in the quiet neighbourhood.
Their inquiries are continuing as they try to piece together how the deadly brawl broke out among the group, most of whom were in their mid teens.
"At this stage of our inquiries, we are trying to establish why the party turned violent," Superintendent Duncan said.
About 50 people were at the party. It is understood this was not a case of gatecrashers or a gang disrupting festivities.
A number of people were handcuffed and questioned by police at the party but no arrests had been made by Sunday evening.
A 16-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man were taken to hospital. The 16-year-old was discharged and the 20-year-old was in a serious, but stable condition on Sunday.
Three boys, two aged 16 and one aged 17, and a woman aged 18 were all taken with lacerations to Royal North Shore Hospital but were later discharged.
On Sunday, Aidan's sister Nova posted a tribute to her brother on Facebook: "Just wanted to say that I love you with all my heart Aidan and I'm so sorry this had to happen to you.
"I couldn't have asked for a better brother, through everything we went through you were always there for me and I'll always be your number 1 supporter.
"R.I.P my baby brother 💕 still cannot believe this has happened," she posted.
Several friends of the teenager also posted tributes to the teenager.
"Rest in peace Aidan. Didn't deserve any of this, fly high up there," one said.
"[You] were truly such a positive light everywhere you went, you didn't deserve this," another said.
With Emma Partridge