A 17-year-old has been arrested after fight between two groups of teenagers has ended in tragedy, with a 16-year-old boy fatally stabbed in Melbourne’s west.
Homicide squad detectives arrested the Caroline Springs boy at Braybrook on Friday after the 16-year-old died on Station Place, Sunshine on Thursday afternoon.
Police are looking for at least another two teenage boys who they have identified as suspects.
An altercation broke out near the Sunshine bus station between two groups from two different schools in Melbourne’s west, Detective Superintendent Janet Stevenson said on Friday.
The groups were made up of children aged about 15 and 16, and one of the groups of boys appeared to be the “aggressors”, Det Supt Stevenson said.
They were earlier seen chasing the victims through the streets, with the boy who died among three 16-year-old boys in the fight.
One of the boys who was injured was taken to hospital, while the other was treated at the scene.
The 16-year-old boy who died at the scene was from Melton South.
“(The ‘aggressors’ group) looked as though they were there for a purpose.
It didn’t look like an organised fight,” Det Supt Stevenson said.
Officers were looking for several knives and had conducted an extensive search of the area in the wake of the incident.
Police were speaking with the two schools where the teenagers attended and acknowledged potential attacks in retaliation were a concern.
“We don’t really understand the motive and everything behind (the incident),” Det Supt Stevenson said.
Local officers were patrolling the schools along with the scene of the teenager’s death to reassure the community, and police had received “valuable” CCTV and mobile phone footage, she said.
Several people witnessed the altercation and police had offered them support, Det Supt Stevenson said.
“A lot of them are known to each other, of course known to the victims, and it’s very upsetting for them.”
Det Supt Stevenson urged the additional two suspects police had identified to hand themselves in.
“We’d much prefer if they actually gave themselves up, it would make everything a lot easier,” she said.
The detective noted knife homicides have decreased over the past couple of years.
— AAP
