Pickaxe killing inspires WAIT

With their Henry Wise Wood High School football jerseys and confident stance, 17-year-olds Keith MacDuff and Kylor Morrison don't look like the type to back away from a fight.
 
But that's exactly what they're promoting.
 
The high school seniors have already buried one friend who was killed with a pickaxe, and watched others become seriously injured after violent house parties.
 
That's why they created the Walk Away, Insure Tomorrow campaign.
 
The pair are distributing white rubber bracelets with WAIT etched in red letters.
 
The bands represent a pledge by students to walk away from violent situations.
 
Youth violence is everywhere, they say, and it's escalating.
 
It's not safe to go to a party on your own, said MacDuff.
 
Party crashers arrive in large gangs, itching for a fight. They often outnumber legitimate guests and target the most vulnerable.
 
There's safety in numbers, but even being surrounded by many friends won't always prevent a brawl from breaking out, said Morrison.
 
The turning point for MacDuff came when he got a frantic phone call after a Saturday night house party.
 
His friend Matthew McKay had just been struck in the head with a pickaxe and killed.
 
"They were saying he's dead but I didn't believe it. I just thought he got beat up. I didn't expect it to go that far," said MacDuff.
 
Shortly afterward, another mutual friend was stabbed in the neck.
 
"I've seen chops to the face, smashings, hitting people with bats, stabbings, beating someone unconscious and then, when they wake up, beating them again," Morrison said in a flat voice, as if reciting a shopping list.
 
MacDuff and Morrison felt something needed to be done to stop the wave of beatings occurring in Calgary every weekend.