A fight over a hamburger may have cost 22-year-old Tekle Mallory his life, it emerged yesterday.

The young man bled to death early Saturday morning after he was fatally cut during a fight outside the Ice Queen in Paget.

And The Royal Gazette was told by a source close to the dead man that the altercation broke out among Mallory's own group of friends and he was trying to stop the violence.

Police arrested two men - a 22-year-old and an 18-year-old - later on Saturday in connection with the death.

When Police arrived at the scene shortly after 4.30 a.m. they found roughly a hundred people gathered around Mallory who was lying in a pool of his own blood.

An ambulance whisked him to hospital where he later died from his wounds. According to a Police report, the death was the result of "an altercation between several males during which Mr. Mallory sustained a number of sharp force injuries".

The Royal Gazette understands that the fight outside Ice Queen was a continuation of an altercation which began among the men at Showtime nightclub in Dockyard and Police are asking to speak with members of the public who were in Showtime between midnight and 3 a.m. on Saturday.

When the fight started again at Ice Queen - allegedly because one man tried to take a hamburger from another - Mallory apparently got between the men and tried to stop the fight.

A source - who asked not to be named - told The Royal Gazette that one man cut Mallory who fell to the ground where a second man kicked at his slashed abdomen.

Mallory "was holding his stomach", the source said. "But (he) started kicking him and kicking him. He kicked the guts out of him."

And the source claimed that the man had specifically gotten the blade and brought it to Ice Queen after the fight at Showtime.

Yesterday, Mr. Mallory's family described him as having a "very loving heart".

Mr. Mallory's sister, Marian Smith, told The Royal Gazette her brother had not been the type to start trouble.

"He loved his family and he loved spending time with his friends," she said.

Ms Smith said her younger brother ran with a number of close friends who he had known for many years.

She said she would not describe them as a rough crowd. "The group hung together and weren't into starting trouble or anything like that," she said.

Tekle Mallory graduated from Sandys Secondary school and had recently started a painting job, his sister said, although he had previously been working at Barritts.

"He really loved listening to music," said Ms Smith. "He liked Reggae and rap."

Despite the shock of Tekle's death, his sister said the family do not believe he died in vain.

"The Lord wants some of the young men in Bermuda," Ms Smith said. "Sometimes it takes a tragedy for people to pay attention.

And the family bear no ill will to the men who have been arrested in connection with Tekle's death, she added.

Court appearances are expected soon in connection with the death and Police are asking anyone with information to contact Inspector Daniels at 295-0011.