A 20-year-old employee has died after an assault at a bottle shop in Darwin overnight.
Northern Territory Police said the man was assaulted with a knife at the Airport Tavern's BWS store in Jingili about 9pm Sunday.
Police and St John Ambulance crews arrived on the scene but the man was declared dead.
NT Police Assistant Commissioner Michael White said emergency services had arrived to find the man with multiple stab wounds.
"All attempts to save that person failed, and tragically [he] died," he said.
Police said the offender fled in a vehicle.
A 19-year-old man was arrested on Monday morning, and police have said he is expected to be charged later today.
Assistant Commissioner White said the man had been arrested on Trower Road after a police search, and that two other people — aged 15 and 16 — were also in custody and assisting police with inquiries.
He said the stabbing could be linked to at least one other incident overnight, at the Beachfront Hotel in Nightcliff, with police believing the same vehicle and some of the same people had been at both.
"It is our belief that these two incidents are linked, and potentially a third incident earlier in the evening in Karama, where a young person was assaulted and a number of items stolen from them while they were on a street," he said.
The Major Crime Unit is investigating and police are calling for any witnesses to come forward.
The father of the victim, who wished to remain anonymous, told Darwin's Mix FM his son sent him a text message after he had been stabbed.
"He went to work at two o'clock and I did my fist pump and everything like he always does," he said.
"He's a good kid, and then at a quarter to nine I was asleep, but I got a text, and I woke up to the text and it said: I love you dad, I've been stabbed."
He said his son was a "wonderful, opinionated, strong lad".
"A typical [20-year-old]. He was 20 in February. He's only been up in the Territory the last two years," he said.
"He's from Queensland, and Cairns before that.
"He loved his football and he was really into music at the moment. He was trying to get some songs released and also he was studying as well and working 30-odd hours a week at the BWS."
The father said his son had been in dangerous situations before at the bottle shop during shifts.
"They get attacked quite often at that particular one is all I know," he said.
"He was looking for another job. He just couldn't handle it anymore.
"It's getting very, very bad out there for everyone. Whether it's my son or someone else … something needs to be done.
"I wouldn't want anyone else to feel [this] … it's incredibly difficult."
Endeavour Group, which owns the Airport Tavern, confirmed the employee's death in a statement.
"Endeavour Group can confirm that, following a serious incident last night at BWS Drive at The Airport Tavern in Darwin, a team member has tragically passed away," chief executive Steve Donohue said.
"Despite best efforts to revive the team member, he died at the scene."
Mr Donohue said counselling and support would be offered to all of the company's Darwin staff members.
The incident comes just weeks after Endeavour Group cut the trading hours of BWS stores across Darwin by an hour.
In a statement issued at the time, a company spokesperson cited safety and wellbeing concerns for staff, customers and the wider community for the change.
Both the Airport Tavern and BWS were closed this morning.
A crime scene was still in place at the BWS, with police tape cordoning off the building and several police vehicles onsite.
Industry responds with sadness, worker safety concerns
The stabbing has shocked the Northern Territory's retail and hospitality industry.
It has also prompted concerns for worker safety, as the latest in a series of violent incidents at territory bottle shops and other retail and hospitality venues.
Hospitality NT, the territory's peak industry body which represents drive-through bottle shops, said the sector was in mourning over "the loss of one of our own".
"This valued member of our industry came to work yesterday like thousands of other staff around the country to provide a service to others and to earn a living," it said.
"His life was cut short by a heinous act of violence.
"The hospitality industry of the NT and around Australia stands in mourning today."
Shlok Sharma, the NT director of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, which represents retail workers, said the incident was a major blow for the territory's retail sector.
"We know that it's just that much harder for all of our workers in our bottle shops, our supermarkets, our pubs, other hospitality venues, to go into work today," he told ABC Radio Darwin.
"These are workers that work in places that are quite exposed, and I think a lot of them will be feeling quite anxious today."
He also said it would affect retail worker recruitment, at a time when the sector was already struggling with staff shortages.
"It will just make it tougher for places to find good workers to work in retail, because obviously there are a lot of incidents that are making work harder for [them]," he said.
Calls for crackdown on alcohol-related violence
The NT's Country Liberal Party has called for an immediate crackdown on alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour in the territory.
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro said that should include stricter measures and more resources directed at the problem, including more police powers to deal with problem drinkers and more support services to help them.
She also said the party would introduce a no-confidence motion in NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles in parliament this week over her handling of alcohol-related violence.
"People have been fearing the worst for a very long time and unfortunately now this young man's life has been taken from him, and ultimately it must cause a re-think and a re-shape of how this government deals with alcohol policy going forward," she said.
"There needs to be an immediate crackdown on alcohol-fuelled violence and alcohol harm in the NT, to send a clear message there will be zero tolerance for this behaviour."
Ms Fyles, who described the man's death as "heart-breaking", said the NT government would continue working to address alcohol-related harm in the territory, including through discussions with NT licensees, the liquor industry and police.
However she would not be drawn on what, if any, specific changes would now be made to strengthen protections for workers.
