Darren Ng Wei Jie was attacked at Downtown East and was brought to hospital at 6pm last Saturday before he died five hours later.
Shopkeepers at Downtown East who saw the last moments of victim Darren Ng Wei Jie as he was running away, said they were confused while others thought it was a Halloween prank.
Shopkeepers saw the victim colliding into glass doors while running away from his attackers with one saying she saw Darren limping past this area in a pair of bermudas, with blood flowing from an open wound on his lower leg.
Terry Kwan, the shop owner of D'Jovina, said the scene was very chaotic.
"Perhaps there were some mistaken that it was a Halloween prank that was happening in Downtown East here, because prior to this, Friday and Saturday there was some Halloween celebration here to be conducted in Downtown East. So it was very chaotic, people don't know if this was a real stabbing or if was this an re-enactment or a prank done by some youngsters."
Terry said he only realised something was amiss when he saw people screaming and running straight into a fish pond.
Others said things happened too fast.
"I saw a guy fall on the floor. And his friend managed to help him up. And they walked all the way and he was bleeding quite badly," said Jason Tan, a handphone shop owner.
Zulkeffly Tukiman, the owner of Ocean Seafood Restaurant, saw a group carrying weapons.
"It was around six of seven of them altogether...I saw them carrying a chopper."
The shopkeepers that MediaCorp spoke to said they had never seen a serious attack like this at Downtown East. They said they had seen smaller skirmishes before, but these were easily broken up my security.
Republic Polytechnic, where Darren was studying Industrial and Operations Management at the School of Engineering, said it is providing counselling support for friends and classmates of the victim.
Police have classified the case as murder.