Police have charged an 18-year-old Burnaby resident in the stabbing death of a 15-year-old Filipino high school student in an East Vancouver park.

Dillan Anthony Butler appeared in court Monday morning in Vancouver to face a charge of second-degree murder in Sunday's death of Deward Ponte.

Deward Ponte, 15, died early Sunday following an alleged stabbing in a Vancouver park, police said.
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Police were called at around 2 a.m. PT Sunday about yelling in Gray's Park, a hangout for young people near the 1000 block of East 33rd Avenue in East Vancouver.

When police arrived, they heard screaming coming from a yard on the south side of the park, where they found two young men suffering from knife wounds.

Ponte, a Grade 10 student at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, died shortly after police found him, while the other victim, an 18-year-old man, remains in hospital in stable condition, said Vancouver police Const. Tim Fanning on Monday morning.

Previously, police said the unidentified victim was 19, Fanning said.

The arrest was made after dozens of officers spent all day Sunday knocking on doors in the neighbourhood, looking for evidence and talking to witnesses.

The stabbing appears to have been a fight between two groups of teenagers who did not appear to have known each other previously, said Fanning.

Flag flies at half-mast

At the south Vancouver high school on Monday, the flag flew at half-mast to honour Ponte, who played on the school basketball team.

Andy Krawczyk, the principal at Churchill, told CBC News students and staff were devastated by the death.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the family. We will be in touch with the family today as they will be, out of everyone, feeling the loss the most," said Krawczyk.

Hannah Styffe, a Grade 10 student, said fights happen from time to time, but rarely are the consequence this serious and so close to home.

"I didn't know what to think. I was really nervous, just to know that it was someone who was your age, at your school," she told CBC News on Monday morning.

Councillors will be on hand at Churchill, to help students work through their grief, said Krawczyk.