Joey Tanner's first trip away from home ended up costing him his life.

Just three weeks shy of his 17th birthday, he drove to Barrie with a friend. But the Hamilton teen never made it home.

Tanner and his friend were left bleeding in Duckworth Street Plaza's parking lot after they were stabbed in an altercation outside a Barrie townhouse just before noon Saturday. Tanner died later that day. The other teen is in stable but critical condition at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without him," said his father, Bill Tanner. "I just keep waiting for him to walk up to the house, but you know it's not going to happen."

Tanner said his son ended up with the wrong crowd and didn't know anyone who lived in Barrie.

"I still don't understand how he ended up in that car. All of his friends are here. He was a Hamilton boy."

The Delta Secondary student helped mow neighbours' lawns near his Gertrude Street home, played basketball with kids and was itching to get his driver's licence on his birthday.

Ronnie Brazier, 20, who grew up with Joey, had difficulty talking about him.

"He was a friendly person. He never hated anybody. He was our boy."

Barrie police have charged Joseph Nicholson, 20, of Barrie, and Matthew Massey, 19, of no fixed address, with second-degree murder and attempted murder. They appear in court Friday.