EXCLUSIVE: Sister of killed Bristol boy backs bleed kit efforts
Shanine Wright has spoken publicly for the first time since losing her brother Darrian Williams
Last updated 4th Jun 2024
The sister of a Bristol boy who lost his life in a stabbing in February is backing our charity's efforts to reduce deaths from knife crime.
Last week we revealed Cash for Kids is funding the installation of 10 bleed control kits in public across the West Country, with three already up in Bristol city centre, Easton and Hartcliffe.
The Easton kit, supplied by the Daniel Baird Foundation in a cabinet funded by Cash for Kids, can be found on The Lebeq Tavern just across the road from Rawnsley Park, where 16-year-old Darrian Williams suffered a fatal stab wound on Valentines Day.
Speaking exclusively to us, his eldest sister, 25 year old Shanine Wright said: "I think personally it's amazing that so many people are working together to get them (the bleed kits) out there.
"I think they're really important."
Shanine says she had not heard of bleed control kits, which are specialist first aid kits including everything needed to stem a catastrophic bleed, until after Darrian's death.
Since then, last Tuesday (28th May) one was used to save the life of a man stabbed multiple times in Bristol city centre and Shanine is currently fundraising to get more installed.
"He made everyone laugh"
Paying tribute to her brother, Shanine said Darrian was just "a typical kid".
"He was an amazing boy, he was so funny," she said.
"A little story of him is, my daughter who is his niece, she's seven and we was at my nan's house.
"She had hit him so he hit her back and then she comes in crying.
"I was like, 'what's wrong?'
"She was like 'Darrian just hit me.'
"So I said, 'Darrian why did you hit her?'
"And he said, 'because she hit me.'
"He was just a typical kid, just a typical child, so innocent.
"He literally just made everyone laugh all the time. He always had a joke, always in the corner doing something.
"He wasn't much of a dancer but when he did dance it was hilarious. He was very, very, very pleasant to be around."
On knife crime and the impact
Just two weeks before Darrian's death, a family get together was held to celebrate his 16th birthday.
At around the same time, Shanine says she had a conversation with Darrian about knife crime, having decided to do so following the deaths of Max Dixon (16) and Mason Rist (15) in Knowle West in January.
"That's the scary thing about it," she said.
"You have these conversations not thinking that it's ever going to be more than just a conversation and within two weeks of having a conversation like that with Darrian, we was faced with the biggest nightmare ever to be honest.
"It was a day that I will never, ever forget."
Shanine first heard about what had happened to Darrian through the family.
Talking about the conversation she had with him previously, she said: "It was just a general conversation just to be like, be careful, be careful who you hang around with...
"I think I even made a comment saying life's too short, life's for living.
"Get your GCSEs, get school out of the way and you're going to see that life is only just beginning.
"As I said it was just beginning, it ended for him..."
Since Darrian's death Shanine says she has been to an event herself which was shut down when someone carrying a knife tried to get in.
"I was happy that that had happened but at the same time it kind of just triggered me," she said.
"It just made me realise that it doesn't matter what age you are, what area you're in, what you're doing, it's just around us. Knife crime is around us.
"There's people carrying knives when they're walking to the shops and you're just going to get your gas and electric."
Two 15-year-old boys who we can't name for legal reasons, have been charged with Darrian's murder.