15-year old girl stabbed to death on her way to school after trying to break up fight
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, promised to 'end the scourge of knife crime in our city'
CROYDON, ENGLAND: A 15-year-old schoolgirl was trying to break up a fight when she was fatally stabbed on her way to school on September 27.
Locals claim to have witnessed a group of schoolchildren getting off the No. 60 bus in front of the Whitgift Centre, where a fight between the boy, who was wearing a black blazer, and the girl, who was wearing a green school blazer, "spilled out" onto a busy pedestrian street, as reported by DailyMail.
Victim has not been publicly identified
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was attacked on a busy road in Croydon, South London, on her way to school Wednesday morning, according to the BBC.
According to eyewitnesses who spoke to the Telegraph, the girl was picked on because she allegedly declined flowers from a boy from another nearby school.
The dispute began on a double-decker bus between the teen, her friends, and students from the other school and continued outside a shopping center, according to the witnesses, as reported by NewYorkPost.
Despite emergency personnels' valiant efforts to save the girl's life, the outlet added, she was declared dead on the sidewalk.
Youth worker James Watkins told the Telegraph that her grieving friends were left to inform her parents of her death because her parents did not arrive at the scene right away.
Watkins said of the victim’s relatives, “[The family] were in shock and devastated, it doesn’t feel real to them. They said a lot of things — it was shock and disbelief."
17-year-old male suspect detained and is in police custody
Following that, a 17-year-old male was detained in New Addington and is still being held, Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain announced at a press conference on the scene, according to the Telegraph.
Local private school Old Palace of John Whitgift confirmed the victim was a student and stated the neighborhood is devastated by her "senseless and tragic death."
The statement reads, “It will take some time for the Old Palace community to come to terms with this terrible news, and we will offer support to our pupils as we try to do so."
Photos showed that within a few hours of the stabbing, flowers had already been placed on the pavement close to the crime scene to honor the tragedy.
Croydon MP Sarah Jones said she's heart broken by the crime scene
Croydon MP Sarah Jones said in a statement, “I’m heartbroken that a child in my town has been killed on her way to school and I cannot imagine the grief that her family will be going through at this time."
Statement reads, “We all hold our children close and our community will take time to grieve, but for today we are just thinking of this young girl and her family. I’m so sorry.”
Mayor of London promised to 'end the scourge of knife crime'
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, expressed his "absolutely heartbroken" over the teen's passing on Greatest Hits Radio and promised to "end the scourge of knife crime in our city," according to the BBC. The area's ongoing violent crime wave has angered the locals.
According to bystander Christopher Ita, "This will happen again next week and next month, it'll just be somebody else."
Another witness, Georgina Slater added, "It’s just happening far too often in this area. I don’t understand how at this time in the morning a little girl’s been stabbed."
“I don’t know what the police are doing … they’re just getting younger,” she continued.
“We need intervention, we need stuff for the kids, they’ve got no guidance. The police turn up when it’s this — where’s the interventions in the schools?” she asked.
