A stabbing during a funeral procession last weekend in Phoenix, Arizona has left two Karenni men dead.

According to sources on the ground and local news reports, around 40 Karenni community members gathered at an apartment complex on 27 April to mourn the death of a friend, when a fight erupted outside of the building between Karen youths and locals.

“The Karen kids ran towards us shouting stuff. At the time, Karenni youths were singing songs during the procession and they went out to see what was going on,” said Khu Frareh.

“They attacked our community members who went outside, killing two,” said Khu Frareh.

The victims were identified as Kay Phoe, 23, and Kha Reh, 46.

Police arrived at the scene after the incident, but according to a report on a local Fox news station police were unable to effectively communicate with witnesses due to the language barrier.

“What we understand, at least preliminarily, is that there was some type of altercation involving both victims and possibly two Hispanic males and one Hispanic female that led to this particular apartment where the incident took occurred,” said Phoenix Police Sergeant Steve Martos during an interview with Fox 10.

On Sunday, police brought in Burmese translators to begin assisting with the investigation and are asking community members with any information to come forward.